Send the Pain Below
by st.elmo-lover
Summary: This is a Mary-Sue and you will hate it. I know this. I'm sick of getting reviews telling me that it is and that my grammar sucks in it. I KNOW!
1. Stupid SOC Bastard

**_Author's Notes:D_**

**Hey, what's up people? Ok, anyway, this story is to make up for some that I've stopped writing. I just lost intrest in them and they really weren't geting very good reviews. So I decided to write this one. Its something kind of new that I thought not that many people have done before so here it is and I hope you enjoy!**

**_Disclaimer: _I do not own the outsiders frowns and starts to cry. But Maggie is all mine and so is her sister and the soc her sister is married too. **

Maggie wondered around the deserted streets, tears streamed down her face and she looked around her constantly. Trying to make sure no one was falling her. She had no idea what had went so wrong for her to end up this way. For her to be in these streets, the streets of Tulsa, on her way to get the only thing of importance in her life.

She tripped unexpantingly and fell to her knees. She growled in anger and threw a couple of rocks in no particular direction, she just needed to blow off the steam. The tears started to flow more and she wiped them away vigorously. Crying was useless and only showed weakness, she needed to suck it up and get on her way.

She told herself that over and over again, to suck it up. She walked stiffly down the streets until she was only a block away. She took in a shaky breath as she looked at the house. The sound of music blared from it as she walked even closer.

She walked through the screen door without another thought about what awaited inside. The smoke greeted her and she had to try hard not to cough. She looked around and then walked up the stairs to the many rooms upstairs. She walked to the one that she had once shared with her older sister, the one where her older sister had comforted her and told her everything would be alright. And now she was alone, her sister had left her to go live with that soc. That soc that hated kids so much, he had even taken a swing at Maggie a couple of times. But her older sister, Vally, was convinced that she was in love with that damn soc. No matter how much pain Maggie had to go through.

Maggie fumbled with the key as she took it out of her pocket, her cheek still burned from that last hit. She growled again as she dropped the key. She stomped her foot childishly and bent down to pick it up, her cheek burning even more as some of her blood rushed to her head. She struggled to grab a hold of it but once she did she slouched back up to a standing position, only to drop the key again. This time instead of growling the tears yet again started to flow from her eyes and spill down her already reddened cheeks. She slid down the wall and pulled her knees up to her chest, letting her body shack with the sobs she had held in for years. She cried for her parents, for her sister, for herself, she cried for all of it.

Maggie sat like that for at least 20 minutes before a voice startled her.

"You need some kind of help kid?" a cold voice asked over her quiet sobs. She took a shaky breath, not sure if she wanted to see what kind of man waited for her. A number of things could happen to her in this house. A number of unwanted, painful things. She finally looked up and met the cold blue eyes of a man not older then 20. He had a sluttish looking girl hanging off of his arm and his words were slightly slurred.

"She left me." Maggie whispered as if speaking the words would curse her. She shuddered just thinking about what she was going to do after this night. How she was going to take care of herself or make money to live or to eat or to buy clothes or to go to school. She didn't want to think about it, she couldn't think about it.

She looked up, startled to find the man still standing there. The girl hanging on his arm was now gone. Probably mad at him for holding up the "fun" she had planned for the night.

"No." she said simply. "I don't need any help. Why are you bothering?" she looked down at her feet. Her shoes were worn and torn and you cold barely tell that they were once a black color. They were now covered with dust and dirt. She would need new ones pretty soon, especially with winter approaching. She couldn't let her feet freeze.

The sound of the man's voice brought her out of her thoughts yet again. "Its not everyday you see a little girl crying in front of a bedroom at Buck Merril's house." he snapped, hate starting to fill his voice now. "I hate kids." he mumbled to himself as he shifted uncomfortably, not liking the situation he had put himself in.

Maggie nodded, now seeing his point. She didn't know why she had come back here. Maybe to be reminded of her sister, maybe to get her things together. Maybe to see if she could scrap up some money or maybe just to collapse on the bed and sleep until she didn't wake up again.

"So what are you doing here?" he asked, annoyance taking the place of hatred in his voice.

"My sister..." Maggie trailed off, doubting whether she should tell him but continued anyway. "Left me so she could marry a soc." a hateful smile filled her face as she continued to stare down at her shoes, a picture of that damn soc was filling her vision. "He doesn't like kids, especially not greaser ones. He hit me. He hit a lot." Maggie said, her tears were finally starting to stop. The more she thought about what was going on the more she hated her sister instead of missed her. And the more she hated that damn soc for hitting her and driving her and her sister apart.

The man in front of her shook his head in disgust, more towards her sister. His white blond hair fell in his ice blue eyes, forming a curtain. "That still doesn't answer the question." he snapped. "What are you doing _here!_?"

Maggie scowled at him before answering. "My parents died about 5 months ago in a car crash. My sister and me were kicked out of the apartment so Buck's been letting us stay her ever since." he nodded, showing her that he was satisfied for her answer.

"What's your name kid?" he asked after a long while of silence. Maggie looked up at him, his hair was still in his eyes and his face was still as cold and hard as concrete, something told her she shouldn't have even been talking to him. But she was too tired and too beat up to care.

"Maggie. What's yours?" she looked up at him again briefly before looking down again. She let her feet slip down so her legs were lying flat on the ground. She whipped her clammy hands on her jeans. She was getting ready to run just in case this guy turned out to be someone _really _bad.

"Dallas Winston." was his simple reply. Maggie had to fight to keep the shock from her face. Dallas Winston, the toughest hood in Tulsa, was talking to her, a 13 year old girl. She nodded and pulled herself up, she turned her back on him and picked up her key, still fumbling with it because her hands wouldn't stop shaking.

"Hey, kid." Dallas' voice rang out from behind her and she whirled around. "What'd say I take you some place to get some ice for that face of yours?" Maggie was shocked that he had even noticed and looked up at him. He was obviously kicking himself mentally for even asking her, probably thinking about how much it would hurt him reputation wise to be seen with her. But she needed it badly, her cheek was still stinging and her eye was swelled and turning purple. She nodded.

"I sure would appreciate it." she said finally, walking towards him a bit. He nodded and turned around, walking down the stairs without waiting for her to follow. Maggie picked up her pace and followed him down the stairs and out the door. She breathed in the fall air, thankful to be out of the smoke, before running to his car to catch up. She jumped into the passenger side and he sped away. She watched all the pacing buildings going by and wondered where he was taking her. She really didn't care at this point, she had nothing left to live for anyway.

About 8 minutes later they stopped in front of a small house. The paint was chipped and the metal fence in front was bent in a few places, but the place looked homey none the less. Maggie hoped out of the car followed by Dallas. She followed him up the sidewalk and to the stairs of the house. He walked right in not bothering to knock. He held the door open for her and she followed him in.

Maggie looked around the house, she was right, the place was homey. A bit cluttered, but homey none the less. She looked down when she realized there were about 6 other guys in the room besides Dallas. Dallas walked passed her further into what looked like the living room and began speaking to a big guy with huge muscles.

"Hey, Darry. Can I get some ice?" he asked, not coldly but not friendly either. The big guy nodded and walked into what Maggie guessed was the kitchen.

"Dally, what are you doing with a girl this age?" one of them asked. Maggie looked over to him. He was wearing a confused expression. He had long sideburns that looked to be a sort of rusty color. He was a bit stocky too.

Dally flicked him the bird before answering. "I found at Buck's house, in the hallway on the floor." the other guys confusion seemed to deepen and he cocked an eyebrow at Dallas.

"Ask her." Dally snapped and jabbed a finger in Maggie's direction. Maggie snapped her head up and around to stare at the guy who was looking at her for an answer. She looked around the room and realized that all of them were looking at her for an answer, not just the side burn guy.

"My sister, left me to marry a soc. Our parents died about 5 months back and I was left with her. But she left me, too. So I had no where to go back to besides the room at Buck's that we were staying in. The soc guy she was marrying didn't like kids to well, hates greasers too. He slapped me around a little bit before I got up enough sense to leave." Maggie said, hoping that her shortened answer would please them enough to stop asking question.

They all nodded to her, not saying a word.

"Well," Dally said after a few minutes of silence, "this is Two Bit, Steve, Soda, Johnny, and Pony. The big guy right there with your ice is Darry." he pointed to Darry who was just now coming out of the kitchen with a towel wrapped around some ice. She thanked him quietly and stuck the ice on her cheek.

"This is Maggie." Dally told them all. They all nodded and smiled at her. Maggie looked over to the t.v which was now starting to blare what sounded like Mickey Mouse. She looked at the floor in front of it to find Two Bit glued to it with a bottle of beer and a piece of chocolate cake.

She had defiantly run into a weird bunch!


	2. Milk, chocolate syrup, and grape jelly!

**Author's Note:**

**Hey hey peeps! THANKS TO MY REVIEWERS!That's all I have to say, lol:D**

_**1 Month Later**_

Maggie snuck around to the back part of the Dingo. Or more preferably where they put their garbage.

After meeting Dally and all the rest of the guys Maggie used their ice and then fled. She hadn't seen any of them since then.

She rummaged around through the garbage trying to find something to her liking. Buck had kicked her out after finding out her sister had left her, saying that his house was no place for a thirteen year old to be living and that if Maggie wanted a home she should go to one of those girls home's for orphans. Maggie had replied with a simple "Fuck that" and stormed out, taking only her winter coat and an extra pair of jeans. Her extra pair of jeans had been long since dirtied and holed and were no longer worth wearing so she threw them out and refrained to just using one pair of jeans. She kept with the same shirt most of the time. Sometimes she went and stole a shirt out of a soc's shopping bag while they weren't looking, but not very often.

She sighed when she didn't find anything. She hadn't really eaten anything for about 2 days now. All she could get her hands on was a stolen pop once a week. Maggie pulled her coat tighter to her body and pushed her hair out of her eyes before walking back to the front of the Dingo. She was looking down, trying to think of another place that might have something good for her to eat when she ran into someone. The person was rather tall and muscular and Maggie stumbled and started to take a plunge to the ground, but luckily she was caught right before she did.

She corrected her self and pulled her coat tighter around her yet again. Then she took the time to look up to who she had bumped into. And low and behold there stood Dallas Winston right in front of her.

"Maggie." he said somewhat puzzled but sure that it was her. She shook her head hesitantly, she really didn't want him to know how she was living. "Where ya been, kid?" he asked her throwing an arm over he shoulder.

"Around." she answered softly, still looking at her feet. If she could have she would have been blushing. Her face had smudges of dirt and her hair was dis helved and tide back in a sloppy note at the back of her neck. You could barely tell she was a girl by the way she was dressed in her baggy, holey, and dirty clothes. Which made her all the more stunned that Dally had recognized her.

He didn't reply but instead let her go so he could get a look at her. "How longs it been?" he asked after a while of looking her up and down. His face now took a disgusted form.

"A month." she answered simply, still not meeting his gaze. She could feel him nodding thought he didn't say anything.

"You hungry?" he asked after a few seconds. STARVED, was what Maggie wanted to reply with but she decided against it and shook her head instead. He nodded again and lead her inside.

"So, where ya been living?" Dally asked as they started in on their newly arrived food.

"Here, there." Maggie answered between huge bites full of cheeseburger.

"On the streets?" he asked, seriousness was filling his voice which made Maggie look up. It seemed for some reason he was almost worried about her. Maggie nodded her head slowly before taking another bite of food.

Dallas on the other hand was kicking himself for the hundredth time after meeting Maggie. Why was he even caring about this kid? She was thirteen she could take care of herself. _Obviously not, _his mind shouted at him as he watched her shovel food down her throat and take a gulp of coke. He took a bite of his own cheeseburger, still contemplating on why he cared about this girl. Why he was bothering and even spending his money on her.

Dally walked out with her after paying the bill and stopped suddenly.

"What do you say you sleep at the Curtis' tonight?" he asked suddenly, surprising even himself as the words rolled off of his tounge.

Maggie thought about it for a while, not knowing what to do. She had already met the Curtis' and knew who they were and sleeping on their couch would help her out tremendously physically even if it was for one night. She could get a lot more sleep then she had been getting which would give her more energy to carry out the rest of the week.

She nodded. "Thanks." she said quietly, not knowing what else to say. He simply nodded at her and they started walking in the direction of the Curtis house. Maggie walked beside Dally a confused look on her face. Where was his car?

"Where's your car?" she asked suddenly. Dally looked over at her for a couple of seconds before answering.

"Buck's car, not mine." was all he said. Maggie nodded, not really taking notice to the harshness in his voice. She was too used to people's harshness by now, especially since she was homeless and only 13. People often looked down on her as worthless child who just didn't have any parents. But she didn't mind anymore. She made the best of it and channeled her anger and used it so she could survive another week longer. She was already sad enough about losing all her hard earned muscle she didn't want to worry about losing her life because her body had nothing else to eat off of once everything else was gone.

Dallas and Maggie walked the rest of the way in silence both thinking about different things and sparing each other a glance every now and then. Dallas just so he could see just how skinny Maggie had gotten in one month and trying to contemplate how often she did get something to eat. Maggie thinking about everything that had happened to her in her life and trying to decide she if she was fortunate that she met Dallas or the total opposite.

When they finally reached the Curtis house Maggie was ready to go to sleep as soon as possible, her energy quickly faded now a days.

She followed Dallas up the stairs and into the familiar house and looked around to find all of the guys sitting inside again.

"Hey, Dally." they all grumbled not bothering to look up again.

"What's that smell?" Steve asked suddenly, and for the first time in about 10 years Maggie's face flushed red. The 6 boys face's shot up and looked at Dally, all turned wide-eyed when they saw Maggie.

"You guys remember Maggie right?" Dally asked, gesturing towards Maggie. They all nodded, except Pony who hopped up and eloped Maggie in a hug. She hesitated after a while but slowly relaxed.

Pony and her had talked a lot when she had come there a month ago. They had talked about everything, including how their parents had died. They also talked about Maggie's sister and Pony's brothers. And what life was like for Johnny living at home with his parents. Pony had become Maggie's first friend in about 2 years.

Maggie finally returned the hug and then they both let go, both flushing at all the guys' gocking eyes. Darry cleared his throat to et everyone's attention.

"You wanna take a shower and borrow some of Pony's clothes?" he asked her a warm smile gracing his face. Maggie nodded thankfully but didn't return the smile. Soda jumped up flashed Maggie his happy-go-lucky smile before disappearing into his and Pony's room. A couple minutes later he emerged with a pair of Pony's jeans and a tee shirt. She nodded thankfully at him and left for the bathroom. She flipped on the light and looked around the bathroom. It was small but clean. She threw her change of clothes down in the corner and then realized something. She didn't have any clean underwear. Just when she was about to leave to ask for some there was a knock on the door.

She answered it to see Pony standing on the other side, blushing slightly. She looked at him waiting for him to speak but he only held out a pair of boxers. She nodded and took them and watched as he walked back down the hall way to the living room. Maggie softly shut the door and turned around, throwing the boxers with the other clothes on the floor. She walked to the shower and started the water keeping one hand under it so she could adjust it to the right temperature. Once she was satisfied she took all her clothes off and jumped in.

The shower was nice getting to bathe again was more then enough for Maggie, but she even got a good meal to go along with it. And probably another good meal in the morning. She jumped out again, pulling a towel around herself. She dried herself off before dressing and walking back to the living room.

She looked around at the remaining people in the room. Dally was sitting on the couch watching smoking a cigarette and looking at nothing, Darry was sitting in his big chair reading a book, and Soda and Steve were playing cards. She walked all the way into the room and sat down on the couch next to Dally. He looked up at her for a minute before glancing at Darry who was looking right back at him.

"So, Maggie," Darry began and Maggie couldn't resist but to roll her eyes. "What were you doing on the streets?"

Maggie didn't hesitate before answering, "Buck kicked me out after finding out my sister left me, saying that his house was no place for a 13 year old not even if it was the only place I could live." Darry nodded, he really had no idea what to do with this girl.

"So you lived a month on the streets? What did you eat where did you sleep?" he continued questioning her. By this time Soda and Steve had stopped playing to hear what Maggie had to say.

Maggie sighed and looked down, remembered where all she had slept in the last month and what she had ate. "I slept here and there. Where ever I was at the time when I got tired. I ate out of garbage cans most of the time. The Dingo, Jay's. Anywhere I could get that had something at least half decent. I didn't find much very often though..." she trailed off, thinking they could piece everything together by themselves. She looked up at them all, their faces were filled with disgust and wonderment.

"But your only 13." Soda said, his mind wondered what he would have done if he found out Pony had to do all those things, if he _himself_ had to do all those things.

Maggie shrugged, "You guys of all people should know some of us have to grow up earlier then others. It was just my time is all."

"Still though, Maggie. You have a perfectly capable sister. Its not your fault she decided to marry a soc bastard. You shouldn't have to be punished for it." Darry added.

"Well I am. And its not going to do me any good, your pity, won't do _me _any good!" Maggie snapped suddenly, she had no idea where he newly found anger had come from. Probably something that had been bottled up that she was just waiting to unleash on someone.

Darry shook his head. "I'm not pitting you. I'm trying to decide what to do with you. Your 13 years old for christs sakes! You have to go to school, you have to be fed and clothed. You have to be loved, like any other normal kid." Maggie didn't say anything, only sat there. She hadn't had those things for over a year now and she wasn't planning on getting them anytime soon. Especially since she was still homeless.

"I know all this, Darry. But I got no place to get it all." she said finally, she was looking down at her bare feet, trying to make sure no one could catch sight of her tears. She hadn't cried since Dally had found her in the hall way at Buck's.

"Your gonna stay here for while." Darry said softly but sternly. Maggie threw her head up ready to protest but he cut her off. "Just until we can get things sorted out. Maybe find someplace for you to stay. You can wear some of Pony's clothes and go to school with him. We can feed you and everything but you will have to do some chores." he added the last part as if he was speaking to one of his brothers, almost warning her that if she didn't there would be hell to pay.

Maggie nodded, she wasn't sure if she was suppose to be happy or content. She didn't want to take away from them though. She didn't want to intrude on their lives just because she didn't have a very good one. Darry nodded to her again and smiled. He got to his feet and pulled her into a hug unexpectingly. She wiggled a bit, thinking it was a bit awkward having this huge guy hugging her, not to mention the fact that he was 20. But after about a minute she hugged him back thankfully. He was, after all, giving her a home for however long it took.

Darry let go of her and smiled one last time before heading to his bedroom to get some sleep, which left Maggie in the living room with Steve, Soda, and Dally.

"Welcome to the family!" Soda joked as he also hugged her, this time Maggie returned it and afterwards Soda too headed off to bed. Maggie stared at Steve and then at Dally who both just sat there, staring into nothing.

"We're all gonna have to fight for the couch." Steve stated out of the blue.

"Your staying here tonight?" Dally asked, pointing at him with his index finer. Steve nodded.

"You are?" Steve asked him in return. Dally simply nodded and looked to Maggie.

"She's the youngest." Dally said pointing to her and looking at Steve. Steve nodded.

"Not to mention she's a girl." Steve added matter of factly.

"Does that mean I get the couch?" Maggie asked, excitement filling her voice. Steve and Dally looked at each other and then grinned evilly. Maggie just stared between them not knowing what was going on.

"No!" they both cried at the same time as they bolted for the couch and the chair. Maggie just stared dumbfounded at the places that Steve and Dally had just been before turning around to see them both getting comfortable, Steve was on the couch and Dally was in the chair. She sighed frustratingly and grabbed a near by pillow and blanket.

"Shut the light off will ya?" Steve growled even though he had a stupid smile on his face. Maggie scowled at him even though his eyes were already closed and flicked off the light before trying to make herself as comfortable as possible. It took her near an hour to finally get to sleep. Even then she kept waking up in the middle of the night and getting all panicked and frightened because she couldn't remember where she was.

She grumbled when everyone around her starting getting up and getting ready for work, she still wasn't very rested.

"What's your problem?" Steve asked jokingly as Maggie glared at him for bumping into her. She shook her head tiredly and looked around. Two Bit and Johnny had yet to arrive.

"What'd you eat for breakfast?" Darry called from the kitchen where he was preparing breakfast. Maggie shrugged, she hadn't eaten breakfast in she didn't know how long.

"Eggs and bacon alright?" he asked after a few minutes of waiting for her to give a real answer. She smiled and shook her head, trying to remember what bacon tasted like. Maggie looked up when Soda walked into the kitchen, water still dripping from his hair his work shirt hanging open unbuttoned. He smiled his happy go lucky smile at her and proceeded to the refrigerator where he pulled out the milk, chocolate syrup, and grape jelly. She raised an eyebrow at him and he just shrugged.


	3. Living With Jim

**_Thanks To:_**

**oOoRikku4EveroOo****- Hey! Thanks a lot lol!**

**XAmberX****- Thanks to you too, lol. I really don't know how sweet its going to be though!**

**Trench Mouth****- Hey! Thanks a lot lol. I really love reviews so its really good to hear from you. Plus, I really like your story you have right now. Its really good, lol:D!**

**QTpie4-****Thanks. And I really do plan on finishing this one. Well, I plan on finishing them all when I get the chance, lol. Its just sometimes I get new ideas and I gotta run with them lol**

**tikagem**- **Thanks lol. And I'm trying not to make it so pradictable but you know how that go's sometimes lol. But, I got the title from a song by Chevelle called Send the Pain Below, lol. I was listening to it when I started writing this song. hehe:D**

**oOoDancingQueenoOo**- **Thanks, dude! (I say dude a lot too, lol)**

**kipper503**- **Here's the next chappy, for your enjoyment, lol. Let me know if you like it! ;)**

**DramaticAngel****- Thanks lol. I'm really glad you like the way I write. I'm kind of messy when it comes to writing though lol. I jump around a lot idea wise, lol. And the story's only going to get sadder :(!**

**Guitar Gal Slash****- Yeah, I try to do the characters as best I can, lol. Dally's kind of hard to play for me though lol. And thanks a lot. Your review really sparks my confidence! lol:D;)**

**Eternal Dragon101****- Lol, thanks! I am SOOO glad you like it!**

**_Author's Notes:_**

**I UPDATED, I UPDATED:D:D:D:D:D. Lol. I'm really gladI got the chance to write this chappy. School is really pounding the homework on now a days! I have no idea what I'm going to do when volleyball season comes around! But yeah, lol. Here's the next chappy, LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK!**

Maggie walked slowly into the Dingo with Dally and Two Bit. It was a Monday morning and Pony and Johnny were at school. Darry, Steve, and Soda of course had to go to work and had left earlier that morning. She looked around the room seeing how many people were there. And to her surprise the Dingo was at least half way full. She followed Dally as he lead them to a booth next to some other greasers. Before Dally sat down he walked over to another booth and started to talk to a tough looking guy with jet black hair. The thing that stood out the most from this guy was a long scar that pretty much ran the length of is cheek. Instead of going with Dally to listen to a no doubt interesting conversation with the other hood she sat down in the booth instead, which left her all by her lonesome.

She sat there for a few minutes listening to Dally and Two Bit laugh along with the other guy about different things she couldn't hear (Two Bit's laugh was kind of hard _not _to notice). She looked up when she heard her name being called. She looked around to see who the owner of the voice was but couldn't find anyone. She shrugged and turned back to examining the menu. This time who ever it was, instead of calling her name, walked up to the side of the table and took the menu out of her hands. She looked up and once she saw who it was her bottom lip began to quiver up and down, like it often did when she got scared (which these days, wasn't very often).

She tried to unlock her eyes from his fierce gaze but was unable to. It was like his hollow, sharp eyes were sucking her in further and further. They made her feel like she would never see another day of happiness in her life, which she probably wouldn't if her sister was with him. He opened his mouth it was almost like in slow motion from Maggie's point of view. She shut her eyes tight, hoping he would say something like "Your sister left me because of you" instead of "Your coming home with me and your sister so you can be our slave".

She opened her eyes again just as the words starting coming out of is mouth.

"What're you doing here? Your sisters been looking all over this town for you!" he growled. Maggie couldn't get herself to respond. Her hands were shaking and her limbs felt limp. Her bottom lip was still quivering and her brain felt like jelly, she was barely able to take in all his words.

"Well?" he snapped after a minute or so. Maggie flinched at the harshness in his voice. He growled deep in his throat and his muscles in his arms started to bulge as he clenched his fists. He reached up a hand and grabbed her arm harshly and started to drag her to her feet. She hissed with pain and closed her eyes as she tried to shut it out.

_Just let it be make believe, _she thought, _make it all go away. _But the pain never left his harsh presence never left. She snapped her eyes open, hoping someone would notice. There were a few people looking but none of them looked like they cared about what happened to her, even though she was dressed as a greaser and he a soc, none of the other greasers seemed to care.

Her bottom lip started quivering more as she thought about what would happen if him and her sister took her back to their place, what he would do to her. She looked back at Dally who had just so happened to look up. He didn't move though, just watched in confusion, he had no clue what was going on. Maggie's lip started to quiver even more violently as he yanked on her arm even harder, if that was possible, and started dragging her to the parking lot. She looked back at Dally who was now racing towards her as he dragged her outside. Luck just wasn't on her side tonight, his car was parked right outside the door. He shoved her into the passenger side and then ran around to the front, Dally still hadn't even come out the door yet.

Maggie didn't dare to look back as he speed away, no doubt headed for his and her sister's house. She shivered just thinking about the place. It was big and no so homey, especially when the thought of pain and misery was attached to it.

A couple minutes after leaving the Dingo they pulled up in front of the his big white house with the perfect yard and the perfect paint job. The perfect _everything_ pretty much!

"Get out!" he demanded before he slide out of the car himself. She got out reluctantly, she thought about running she didn't care where she went as long as she was away from this house, this man, and her sister. He shoved her inside the house and bellowed up the stairs, "I found your sister!"

After a few seconds the sound of footsteps filled the air as he sister made her way down the stairs. She stared at Maggie up and down and then turned back to Jim.

"Where was she?" she asked, almost harshly.

"At the Dingo with some hoodlums." was all he told her.

**_December_**

Maggie sat in the cold, damp basement holding a peanut butter and jelly in her thing hands, the only thing she was aloud to eat for lunch. After Jim had found her him and her sister had decided she would stay with them and go to school, cook, clean, and everything in between. Basically she was there free laborer! She stood up after downing the rest of it. Jim and her sister had yet to send her to school. They were probably afraid she would try and run away, either that or go cry to her hoodlum friends. But really life at that house wasn't so bad, almost like paying rent. She cooked and cleaned in exchange for shitty food and a place to sleep. The basement wasn't so bad anyway, it was halfway clean.

She made her way up the wooden stairs to get her list of chores for the day. Her daily routine was to do everything her sister and Jim wrote down for her before they both returned for work. Which sometimes was quite impossible, so if she didn't get it all done she would go without eating supper for that night.

"Maggie." Jim said once she reached the upstairs kitchen. He picked up a sack from the table and threw it at her. She reached out purely on reflux so the bag wouldn't hit her face and examined what was inside. It was a skirt with a blouse and a pair of dress shoes.

"Your going to school today. Your list of chores are going to be cut back so you can still have time for homework. But no extra stuff, no track, no band, _no _social life!" he warned her. She nodded her head, knowing not to talk back or ask any questions.

"Use the bathroom downstairs to clean up and do whatever girly shit you need to do." was the last thing he said before he turned away from her to fix a bowl of cereal. She clutched the clothes tightly as if they would disappear if she didn't. Once to the bathroom she stripped down and got in. It was strange finally feeling something warm on her back instead of the usual cold.

Once done she jumped out feeling newly refreshed and put on her clothes. She hand dried her hair and set out to at least try and put some foundation on, at least to cover up her bright purple cheek the best she could.

She shivered when she finally got outside. It had been a long time since she had been out in the cold harsh winter air. She started walking in the direction of the middle school where she knew she would be going to school. She had to walk further into greaser territory, unlike hight schoolers who had to walk further into soc territory. She kept her eyes down on the pavement as she walked and never let up. Well, except when she bumped into someone. She stumbled backwards but caught her balance. She straitened her skirt and shirt before looking up to see who it was.

She took a deep breath when she saw who it was. She had a lot of explaining to do.

"Maggie?" he asked. Maggie nodded.

"Hi, Ponyboy." she said as she stared down at her feet.

"Where'd you go?" he asked, confusion and anger filling his voice.

"My sister's boyfriend showed up while I was at the Dingo with Dally and Two Bit." Maggie said simply, she didn't want to tell him the whole thing.

"And you didn't tell him you didn't want to go?" Pony snapped defensively.

"Look, Pony. I'm scared shitless of him. Most people wouldn't admit that but I just did. What more do you want from me? Besides! Its not like I was getting any help from your friend Dallas or Two Bit." Maggie snapped back. She was frustrated now that Pony would actually think she wanted to go with that jerk off of a guy.

Pony dropped his head. He had no idea what he was suppose to say now.

"I better get to school, Pony. Jim'll skin me alive if I'm late." Maggie said after a while. Pony nodded and let her pass by him on the sidewalk. She could feel his eyes boring into the back of her head as she walked, tripping every now and then because of her shoes. She kept walking though. She had a home now no matter how bad or how cold Jim or her sister could get. She had some place to live and she didn't have to feel like she was intruding on someone else's home.

She took a shaky breath as she entered the school. Kids swarmed around the hall ways talking and throwing papers at each other. _How childish, _Maggie thought as she picked her way through the crowd of kids. She made it the office and burst her way through, smiling weakly at the secretary.

"Maggie Ross?" the secretary raised her eyelids. Maggie nodded slowly. The secretary shook her head slightly and handed a piece of paper over to Maggie.

"That's your class schedule and your locker number." was all the secretary said to her before turning back around to talk to a teacher. Maggie nodded to herself, this was going to be a long day.

Maggie threw her books inside her locker and slammed the door shut at the end of the day. All of her teachers had decided to put her on the spot in front of the other students. Asking odd questions and asking her to "tell them about yourself". Lucky for her there wasn't a lot to say and she did actually know the answer to every single question the teacher threw at her.

Now all she was worried about was getting home. It had snowed through out the whole day and the ground was covered with ice and slush. She picked her way through the crowd of kids again and stormed out the school doors. Immediately she had wished that Jim had given her a winter jacket. But obviously it was his plan to make her freeze in the winter air.

She rubbed her goose bumped arms vigorously as she looked around to find a route home that would dirty her shoes and skirt the least. But there was no such luck. Everywhere there was a slush that had ice, snow, and mud mixed in together. There was no way she was going to make it home without freezing her ass off and getting dirty.

Her head shot up at the sound of a loud, ear piercing whistle. She looked around the parking lot and her eyes rest on the familiar black car she had ridden just 1 time. Soon after her eyes rested on the familiar cold face of the person that had started it all and introduced her to Ponyboy and the other 5 guys.

She shook her head at him but made her way over anyway, her teeth clattering together from the cold.

"What...are...you...doing...here?" she asked him between chatters. He shrugged.

"Pony told me you were going to middle school here now. I thought I could pick you up and talk to you for a bit." he explained, a little on the snappish side. Maggie nodded, all she really wanted to do was get in the car and put the heat on full blast. She walked over to the passenger side and without another word hopped in and waited for him. A few seconds later his door opened and he got in. He started the car and immediately Maggie reached up and put the heat on full blast.

"So where you livin' now a days?" he asked as he clutched the steering wheel, awaiting directions.

"You can't take me there." Maggie told him, shaking her head violently. "If he sees me in this car, with you, I won't eat for a week!"

"Ok, fine. I'll take you to get something to eat then." he said, annoyance filling his voice. Maggie sat back and enjoyed the heat as he rushed over her face and warmed her feet. She had to fight a smile from forming on her lips when she saw the Dingo. The thought of one of their juicy cheeseburgers made her stomach growl.

She hopped out when he turned off the car and made her way in. She slid into a booth near the corner and waited for Dally to sit down.

"So, who was that guy that took you away at the Dingo?" Dally asked after they had ordered there food. Maggie took a sip of her coke before answering.

"My sister soc fiance. His name's Jim and he's an asshole." Dally nodded his head.

"So your living with your sister and her boyfriend now?" Maggie nodded and moved her hands away as he cheeseburger was sat down in front of her. She started to eat right away.

"They treating you ok?" Dally asked after a few minutes of eating. Maggie's head shot up. Why would he care? He hadn't even known her for that long.

"Why do you care?" she asked suddenly. He shrugged uncaring.

"You remind me of Johnny." was all he said.

"Yeah." she choked out. "They treat me ok." she lied. She mentally kicked herself for it, too. Here she was telling a person that Jim treated her ok when she could be telling him he treated her like shit. Then she would be able to get out of there.

But, still. She was determined to stay there. She finally had a place to live. It wasn't home but it was a place to live.

Dally nodded and dropped the subject. _Yeah, _he thought, _thats why you were walking coat less in the middle of winter. _

Dally paid the bill and they both got in the car about 30 minutes later. Maggie was full and some what happy. Except now she had to go back to that house with Jim.

Dally pulled up in front of the house, some of the lights were on and the front door was standing wide open. Maggie eyed it suspiciously but shrugged it off. She turned back to Dally.

"Thanks, Dally. For the ride home and the food and everything. It was nice talking to you." Maggie said before starting to get out of the car.

"You want me to pick you up tomorrow and take you to school?" he asked suddenly.

Maggie thought about it. What he was going seemed more like guilt then worry or caring. He was probably guilty for not stopping Jim from taking her away from the Dingo.

"Listen, Dally. I don't need pity." she snapped. "I'm just fine where I'm at. I can walk, its fine. I can stay in this house with those shitty people, its fine! I can do it because I'm a big girl and can take care of myself. I don't need pity or some 18 year old hoodlum looking after me because he feels obligated to do so because he let some dumb as soc take me away!" she panted, she had never said that much in one breathe in her whole life. She stared at Dally, trying to read him, but she couldn't see anything, just is cold blue eyes.

"Its not pity, Maggie, and I'm not obligated to do nothing!" he snapped back. "I just don't want you to end up like Johnny and me or Steve." he said more quietly as his eyes darted so he wouldn't have to look Maggie in the eye.

"But why do you care, Dallas?" Maggie asked, pleading with him to just tell her what made he so special for him to want to take care of her or what compelled him to make sure that she didn't end up like himself or Steve or maybe even Johnny.

"I really don't know, Maggie!" he said sharply. Maggie nodded, not wanting to show the hurt in her face. She tilted her head down, waiting for Dally to say something else. When he didn't she waved to him and slammed the door before walking up to the house.

She stared at the open door again, wondering why it was all the way open in the middle of winter. She shook her head to herself, not coming up with a reason why. She opened the screen door and stepped inside, closing the regular door behind her. She looked around, there was a single light glowing from upstairs but besides that there was nothing. She slowly started her way up the stairs, her curiosity to find out what was going on was too strong to ignore. Once upstairs she followed the glow of the light to then end of the hall, her sister and Jim's bedroom. She slowly pushed open the door until she could step in and see what was going on.

She looked around the room, it took her a few seconds to see her sister, sobbing, sprawled out on the floor.

Maggie bent down and touched her arm light. Her sister jumped and jerked away.

"What happened?"

**OHHHHHHH! CLIFFY! Welp, review for me tell me how its going cause I really LOVE your guys' opionions. O, and before anyone reviews and asks or anything. NO, there is not going to be any romance in this fanfiction. Not this one anyway, there might be a couple of stories that follow this one. You know like maybe I'll throw what happens in the book in here or maybe I'll do her life as a highschooler. Something like that.**

**SO THANK YOU! LOVE YA ALL!**

**st.elmo-lover**


	4. OUCHY!

**_MUST READ AUTHOR'S NOTE AT THE BOTTOM TO UNDERSTAND SOME OF THIS STUFF!_**

Vally sniffled a few more times and whipped her eyes with the palm of her hand.

She sat up, her whole body shaking, "He hit me." she sobbed softly. Maggie couldn't help it. She could feel it building up inside of her and it was going to come out any minute now.

"Oh, what? You can dish it out but you can't take it? You can hit me and watch him hit me but you can't take it when it happens to you? That's pathetic! Do you see me crying over it? And I get it every single damn day." she snapped violently, waving her hands about to show she meant business. Vally sobbed more violently and her whole body started to shake even more as she held her cheek.

Maggie watched her sob for a while. She knew she had been wrong to yell at her. In some way Vally being hit but Jim was different then when she was hit by him. Jim was suppose to be in love with Vally. He wasn't suppose to hit her and treat her like this if he loved her. So in a way, him hitting her, was kind of like saying "I don't love you" in the most harsh way he could muster.

Just when Maggie was about to speak up and apologize to her sister, her sister started to speak.

"Your right." he sister sniffled out. Maggie leaned her head in closer so she could here her better. "You shouldn't be here. I'm so sorry for hitting you Mags. I'm so sorry. But, I need you out. I don't want you to be here. This started when you got here. When he brought you back. So I want you to leave." he sister said, her face hardening up as she said it. Maggie shook her head. This was going to be the second time she would become homeless because of that asshole! Maggie turned on her heal and began to walk out but stopped abruptly.

"You should get out too, you know. If he really loved you he wouldn't hit you all the time." she said over her shoulder, and with that she left. She walked down stairs changed into her jeans, tennis shoes, and the warmest shirts she could come up with before leaving. It was 9:00 already and -3 below, but she was leaving.

She shivered in the cold air as she walked but stuck her head up confidently. She walked on and on until she reached greaser territory, and from there she went to the park. She walked until she found a dry area that was void of snow.

She lay there, thinking about odd things. Suddenly she remember that Dally was suppose to pick her up at her sister's house to take her to school in the morning. She hopped up, getting the bright idea to go to the Curtis' and ask them to tell him that she wouldn't be going to school in the morning. She didn't want him to know that she was homeless again.

Besides, now that he was actually starting to worry about her for no reason, if she told him it would only give him more of a reason to worry. And Maggie really didn't want that. At least not right now. She already had to worry about herself and how she was going to get through the winter.

Maggie walked the couple of blocks to the Curtis' house. You could still here the t.v blaring from a block away which meant all of them were still up.

She hesitated when she reached the house but got over it soon enough. She just wanted to tell them and get back to the park so she could sleep. She knocked on the door just loud enough so they could here it and then stepped back a little. A minute later, luckily, Ponyboy appeared on the other side of the screen, peering out at her.

"Hey, Pony." she said softly as she looked down at the ground.

"Hey, Maggie." he said back, his gray-green eyes staring out at her, watching her every move.

"Can you do me a favor and tell Dally something for me?" she looked up at him finally, only making eye contact for moment before her eyes shot back down to the ground. She was too afraid that he would be able to read what she was thinking about.

"Sure. What is it?"

"Just tell him that I won't be needing a ride to school in the morning. That I'm not going." Maggie looked up just long enough to see Pony nod and then she took off into the cold air again. It took her about 5 minutes to get back to her spot at the park. But it took her about 3 hours to get to sleep.

She woke up with a start. The sun wasn't even starting to rise, which means it could have been any where from 5:30 to 7:00. She looked around the stars were starting to slowly disappear. She groaned and tossed over to her side, ignoring the tingling her feet and hands gave her from the cold. She could deal with it, after all it was only cold air.

She tossed around as she tried to fall back asleep, for at least another 20 minutes. But sleep didn't come. Her mind kept wondering and she couldn't help but think of odd things again. Like what if she died before she was 21? And what if she never got a proper education? How would she get a job without an education? Would someone ever want to fall in love with the likes of her?

By the time her mind actually did stop wondering the sun was already starting to rise. She slowly got to her feet. Hissing at the harsh tingling in her feet. They were numb along with her fingers. She began to walk, not knowing she was actually headed for school. When she did finally find herself in front of the school she had no idea what to do. She knew she couldn't go inside, she probably stunk to the high heavens and people would look at her weird if she came in wearing the clothes she was. She was lower then a greaser now. Greasers actually had homes. Maggie, on the other hand, was homeless and there for _lower _then dirt!

She began walking again in no particular direction. She just wondered. Her stomached had yet to growl and let her know that she was hungry so she decided not to stop for food. Before she knew it she had ended up at the DX. She stopped in front of it to give her still numb feet a rest. She leaned up against a gas pump and blew hot hair on her fingers, hoping to warm them up if not just a little bit.

"Hey, Maggie!" a voice called from behind her. Maggie pushed herself off of the gas pump and turned around slowly. Soda stood in the doorway to the DX station motioning her inside.

"Come on. Its cold out here." he hurried her, holding the door up wider as she approached. She sighed as she was met with hot air. It felt so good to her cold skin that she couldn't help but feel relaxed.

"Where ya been? Dally sure was pissed when Pony told him that you didn't need a ride to school." Soda explained as he poured Maggie a cup of hot chocolate. He walked back over to her and set the cup down before actually taking the time to look her over.

"Wow, Maggie. For having a home now you sure do still look homeless..." he trailed off and after a few seconds his eyes went wide and he stared down at her in confusion. She rolled her eyes. She couldn't believe it had taken him that long to notice.

"She kicked you out?" he asked as he turned around and poured himself some hot chocolate.

Maggie nodded and proceeded to tell Soda all that had happened in the past month. About getting starved and the beatings. She told him all of it all the way up to last night when she fell asleep under the tree.

"You could have stayed at our house, Mags!" he scolded. "At least your body wouldn't have been half numb if you did." Maggie shrugged and took a huge gulp of her hot chocolate, letting it travel down her throat and warm her whole body.

"I don't like intruding on other people Soda. You guys have barely enough room as it is. Not to mention 7 mouths to feed. Plus, I like being independent. I can take care of myself."

"That's the thing, Maggie!" a new voice said. Maggie whirled around to see Steve in the doorway to the garage, whipping his oiling hands on a red rag. "Your only 13. Your not suppose to have to take care of yourself. And if you call what your doing taking care of yourself, you've got another thing coming." he said as he entered and poured himself of a glass also.

"What age did you start taking care of yourself, Steve?" Maggie snapped defensively. She didn't like the direction that this whole conversation was going in.

"I was 13. But that was totally different then what we're talking about here." Maggie was about to interrupt and argue her case some more but Soda clasped his hand over her mouth so Steve could continue, which Steve did.

"I had money to buy food. I had clean clothes and a warm bed to sleep in. Not to mention I had a place to take a shower too." he turned up his nose as if he could smell her from where he was standing. She flipped him the bird and moved Soda's hand from her mouth.

"Yeah, well. My life just doesn't come with those luxury's." she shrugged as she drank some more hot chocolate.

"I'll be right back. Gotta finish a car." Steve said after giving Soda a weird glance. Maggie looked between the two, trying to figure out what was going on. But nothing seemed to come to mind to what they could be up to. She turned back to her cup, vowing she would find out later.

And that she did. About 10 minutes after Steve had disappeared someone started yelling at her. A new someone.

"Maggie, whatever you middle name is, Ross! Why the _fuck _aren't you at school?" someone snapped as the door dinged. Maggie cringed at the sound of the voice and flushed a pale white. And then, suddenly, her bottom lip started to tremble. She turned around to stare Dallas in the face, not knowing what she wanted to answer with.

"Um? I got sick?" she said more of an asking tone. She had no idea what he wanted to hear. HECK, she had no idea why he even cared!

He growled deep in his throat and Maggie's lip started to tremble even more.

"Not a good answer!" he snapped as he started to pace the floor in front of her. "Why are you dressed like that? What happened to your soccy clothes? Why do you stink? And most importantly why do I care?" he asked the question more to himself then anyone. He new he wasn't going soft or anything but for some odd reason he did feel obligated to take care of her. She was only thirteen and she was living on the streets, alone, in Tulsa.

"Fine!" Maggie said weakly. "My sister kicked me out because she blamed me for Jim starting to beat her all the sudden. So I'm wearing these clothes cause their the warmest things I have. And I stink because I spent last night sleeping in the park which had god knows what on the ground. And I really have _no _idea why you care." she answered him all in one breath. She watched as he took in all her words and then nodded.

"So your back to where you started. Living on the streets?" he asked as he scraped a hand through his hair.

"Why do you care Dallas?" she snapped back, suddenly feeling like she was just as tall as him and just as old. That feeling quickly left her as he moved to stand right in front of her. Towering a good foot and half over her. Then she was back to her lower lip trembling.

"Go get in the car." he snapped and pointed towards the black car sitting outside. She nodded weakly and got up thanking Soda quickly for the hot chocolate and then leaving.

Dallas turned to Soda and gave him a glare. Soda put his hands up defensively. "I didn't know until about hour before you did!" Soda told him putting one hand up in scout's honor. Dallas' glare only turned more harsh before he turned on his heel, his boot making a loud _thud _on the floor as he did so. Then he stormed out.

"You never answered my question." Maggie said as they pulled up into the Curtis' driveway. "Why do you care?" she asked turned to face him now. He shrugged, avoiding eye contact as best as possible.

"Fine." he grunted and turned towards her. "You remind me of me when I was your age. Except I actually had a little bit more money then you did.

"Ok, Dally." Maggie said nodding and smiling a little bit. "But I'm only staying here for the night. After that I'm going back to the streets. I still have to get into a winter routine." she explained and Dally cocked an eyebrow. "You know...steal some winter clothes, pick out the best garbage cans for food, find a warm dry place to sleep, and find something to do during the day besides sleep and walk around." she told him. He looked at her strangely again and she just had to break the stare.

He opened the door suddenly, getting out and slamming it shut again.

"Come on!" he called and Maggie scrambled out of the passenger side and up the steps to the house after Dally. Dally disappeared into Soda and Pony's room and emerged with a pair of sweat pants, long socks, gloves, boots, a long sleeve shirt, a sweater, and a heavy jacket.

"This should last you for a while." he said as he threw it all in her arms. She gawked at it all, wondering why he was just giving it all to her when she could just steal it. "I'm not taking the risk of letting you steal shit just so you can get caught doing it. A girl and jail just don't mix." he said as he pointed a finger in her face, almost warning her that if she tried something he would _personally skin_ her alive. She nodded and threw all the crap in the bathroom. She closed the door behind her and undressed. She jumped in the shower, yet again enjoying the warmth it brought with it.

It wasn't until half way through the shower that she realized that there was a faint pain in her side. It was more of her lower back but it was gradually getting worse until she was fight doubling over. She finished washing the soup off of her body and slid out of the shower. She quickly dried off, stopping often to clutch her side from the pain. She dressed slowly, trying as hard as possible not to disturb her side. She emerged from the bathroom, walking slowly and still clutching her side.

Dally was no where to be found so Maggie walked slowly to the couch and slide down. Nausea was slowly creeping its way over her to accompany the pain in her side. She slowly slide down so she was lying down. She still clutched her side and wondered where Dally was when you needed him.

She sat like that for about and hour. Holding her side, and finding back the urge to puke. She was suddenly glad Dally had given her all those clothes because she felt really cold all of the sudden.

Her head popped up when she heard laughter and talking. It was Steve and Soda who had, thankfully, gotten home from work early.

"Guys." she crooked out. They both shut up and looked down at her. "Can one of you find Dally for me?" she asked quietly, still fighting the urge to throw up right there on the couch. Steve nodded and began wondering around the house. After a minute or so he left the house and went outside. Maggie didn't know why but for some odd reason she was starting to feel like the only person she could trust was Dally. After all, she had spent the most time with him.

About 10 agonizing minutes later Steve came back, Dally following behind slowly.

"Dally." Maggie crooked out as she looked up at him. "Can you take me to the hospital?" she asked, hopefully. The pain in her side was just too great to ignore.

"Shoot kid!" Steve yelled suddenly. "Me and Soda could have done that." Dally glared at him before turning back to Maggie.

"Yeah, let's go." he grunted as he stepped back to let Maggie get up. This time it was Soda's turn to glare at Dally. Soda pushed him out of the way and moved to Maggie's side helping her up to her feet and out to Dally's car. She climbed in and tried to keep her mind off of the pain while they drove to the hospital.

After a few tests and a couple hours in the emergency room the doctor finally came in with the diagnoses.

"You, my young friend, have a kidney infection. Its something that can happen from bacteria or if your not taking care of yourself. Maybe not eating properly or not showering daily, or maybe if your dehydrated. Its nothing a little medicine and pain medication can't fix. But you are going to have to make a returning trip so we can check you out again. Just to make sure you don't have any diseases that we didn't catch." was all the doctor told he before patting her lightly on the back and leaving.

Maggie turned to the nurse who had just came in. The nurse smiled warmly at her and handed her a bottle of pills.

"Don't worry about it, deary." she said warmly. "I'll pay for them for you." Maggie nodded. She didn't care if it put a dampen on her pride to have someone else pay for her medicine. She wanted to get better and wanted the pain to stop. She dried swallowed one of the pills and wondered how long it would take for it to start working as she walked out of the hospital with Dally.

_**1 Month Later**_

Maggie sat in the hospital room with Darry this time. After the last time she had an infection she had gotten another one almost right after she had gotten better. And even when she didn't have an infection she dreaded going #1 because it would burn so bad when she did. She had even started bed wetting which was really unusual from someone her age. So Darry had taken her back to the hospital to find out what was wrong with her.

She looked up at Darry, worry filling his eyes as he stared at the doctor.

"Well, we've been able to figure out a diagnosis. Its a disease called Urinary Reflux Disease. Its a disease thats usually caught in infants a lot younger then you. Which is what we're not sure about. You could have a significant amount of damage to your kidneys if this hasn't been caught until now." he explained, talking mainly to Darry instead of Maggie. "We'd like to perform a test called an radionuclide cystogram to see just how bad her urinary reflux is. This is a yearly test performed once a year."

"What is it exactly? The test I mean." Darry asked as he cocked an eyebrow, really not liking how it sounded.

"She lies on a table, her lower...area...is clean and a catheter is inserted. It can be quite painful and uncomfortable to be honest. Her bladder gets pumped full of a radioactive fluid that allows us to take pictures of her her bladder while its full. So we can observe the fluid baking up in her ureter tubes. And then she is allowed to pee and then more images are taken. We'd also like to perform an ultra sound to check damages of the kidneys." the doctor finished finally and Maggie shifted uncomfortable not really knowing how to take it all in.

This was a lot!

**_Author's Notes:_**

**Hey! Ok well, let me explain. I had this disease when I was littler and trust me its no picnic. Maybe some of you had it or had a friend have or something but its o fun. If I hadn't grown out of mine I would have had to have a kidney transplant. That's how serious this disease is if its not treated. But umm this test I'm talking about is infact a yearly thing or at least I had it yearly. I did also get my blood drawn every year which Maggie will probably have to have to do too. And umm they do ultra sounds in these cases too. But you can look Urinary Reflux Disease up on the internet and read up on it. Its really no fun whne your about 2 years old lol. But ok that's it. And guess what? I UPDATED TWICE IN ONE DAY! haha:D;)**


	5. What have I gotten myself into?

**_Author's Note:_**

**I know this chappy is short people but you know I thought best to update then not update at all, lol:D! So I hope you like it and here it is.**

Maggie sat in the living room of the Curtis' trying hard not to listen to the conversation between the 4 older boys of the Curtis gang (Steve, Darry, Dally, and Soda). Steve had just gotten back from taking Maggie to her tests. It had token about 4 hours all together so by the time they got back Darry and Soda were already home from work.

Finally Maggie broke and started listening to their conversation. And surprise surprise they were talking about the tests.

"I'm _not _going to take her next year." she could hear Steve tell them. "I could here her screaming out in the hall way." Maggie thought about it. She had screamed from the pain but she didn't think she was that loud. But she had had a right too. It hurt so much it was kind of hard not to. The doctor's had only informed Steve he wasn't aloud to go in until Maggie had already started to enter the room. Steve protested for only a few minutes before finally letting her go in alone.

"Was it really that bad?" Darry asked, he some how wanted to believe that it really wasn't that bad.

"Yes." Steve answered. Maggie stood up slowly, still feeling the pain from the tests. She walked into the kitchen slowly where the 4 guys stood. She looked at each of them expecting them to say something. Just as Darry had opened his mouth the phone rang. He grumbled a few curses and walked over and picked up the phone.

"Hello." he said. He was silent for a while and then said a short ok and ok and another ok and then hung up.

"That was the doctor. He said he's got all the test results back so he wants us to come to his office tomorrow afternoon so he can explain some things." Darry told Maggie as he turned around and started rummaging around for things to fix dinner with. Maggie nodded to herself, trying to figure out what the damn doctor could possibly tell her now.

_**The Next Day (at the doctor's office)**_

Maggie sat in a wooden chair next to Darry in front of a desk, on the other side sat the doctor with a bunch of papers scattered in front of him. He cleared his throat as he began to speak.

"We got all the results back yesterday, which is why your here." he turned more towards Maggie this time as he spoke. "The tests showed that there's a significant amount of damage to your kidney's already. There straining to work as it is. We're going to have to watch you. Chances are that your kidney's won't be able to handle another kidney infection. You'll have to take some medicine every night before you go to bed and drink lots of fluid to keep yourself hydrated. Your going to have to keep yourself clean and well feed. Your body will need a lot of energy. This medicine that you'll be taking will hopefully prevent you from any more kidney infections. That will, hopefully, allow your body to grow out of this disease." he finished finally and shifted his gaze from Maggie to Darry and then back again.

"So what happens if she does get another kidney infection?" Darry asked, asking the question that was on both of their minds. The doctor frowned a little.

"She'll most likely have kidney falier in one or both of her kidney's. The kidney failure alone is enough to damage her kidney's enough so that she'll have to get a new kidney. Getting a new kidney can take a while if you don't have a matching kidney, which means she'd be cut off from a lot of things for a long time until she got her kidney. Even then there's a chance her body might reject the kidney. If her body didn't reject the kidney, however, she would have to take medicine her whole life and she wouldn't be able to do anything that normal kids her age would do." Darry nodded and looked down at his feet. What had he gotten himself into?


	6. Randle and Chocolate Cake

**You guys rock I love you all! Thank you soo much to all my reviewers or to people who are starting to read this story just now, lol. I love you all seriously! It makes me feel really good when you guys send me reviews! Its gives me the will to keep going..hehe:D**

Maggie huffed as she laid down on the couch, nothing but a sheet of blackness in front of her. She couldn't seem to be able to sleep no matter how hard she tried. Her mind just kept wondering over and over again. She just couldn't whip her thoughts clean. She couldn't just think of nothing.

She flipped to her other side so her back was facing the door. She huffed again. She just wasn't in the mood to sleep, she just couldn't seem to do it.

She sat up just as someone came in the house. She jerked her head to the door to look to see who it was. This person she hadn't seen before. He was kind of short, muscular. He looked to be about Pony or Johnny's age. He had long jet black hair that curled out in little whisks. His features screamed HOOD. Her breath caught in her throat as she got a clear view of his eyes. They were an icy green color, that seemed to shimmer in the what little light there was in the room.

"Who are you?" he grunted, not bothering to be quiet.

"I could ask you the same question." she said as she curled her knees to her chest and scooted to one side of the couch.

"I'm Curly." he said, annoyance filling his voice.

"Maggie." she said quietly as she looked at the floor. "I'm living here for a while." she added. He nodded as he slumped down into Darry's over sized chair. Maggie stared at him, hoping he wouldn't notice. There was just something about him that seemed familiar. But at the same time she didn't want to go back to sleep, just out of plain fear. She knew she hung around greasers all the time but she still didn't want to take the chance.

She sunk deep in the couch and waited for what seemed like forever until she heard the soft purrs of the this Curly guy. He was definately asleep. She uncurled herself and sprawled out instead. She couldn't help herself but to glance back at the greaser. She did it multiple times before she felt sleep finally pulling at her eyes. Soon she gave in and let her eye lids slide shut.

She woke up with a start what seemed like a half and hour later. She looked around her, not sure of what woke her up. The greaser, Curly, was still sleeping in Darry's chair. She looked around the room until her eyes fell on a familiar figure near the door. She sighed with relief that it was someone she actually knew this time. She sat up a little to let the figure know that she was awake. She heard him grumbled a few curse words under his breathe before stumbling through the living room to the couch.

"Sorry, I woke you kid." he said softly as he sat down on the other side of the couch near her feet. She smiled a small smile at him and nodded.

"Its ok. He woke me up when he came in too." she said as she pointed to Curly in the chair. Dallas looked over at Curly and let a few more curse words fly.

"He didn't touch you did he?" Dally asked suddenly. Maggie shook her head vigorously, fearing for Curly that Dally would hurt him. Dally nodded and turned his head back to her.

"You can share the couch with me." Maggie said as she looked down at the floor tiredly. "If you want." she added quickly, finally catching up on how that sounded. He looked at her, cocking an eyebrow, before answering.

"That's ok, kid. I'll just take the **whole **couch!" he said as he suddenly reached over and shoved her off the couch. Maggie hit the floor with a loud thump and let out a groan of pain as she rubbed her tail bone.

"That was so not cool." she groaned as she glared at Dally. He smirking evilly at her and trying to hold back laughter.

"Kids," Dally started, "There so easy to mess with!" he said, still smirking. Maggie growled as she got herself up off the floor. She put her hands on her hips and tapped her bare foot at him.

"Dallas what ever your middle name is Winston, I'm a teenager, not a fucking kid. So **don't** treat me like one!" she snapped before she threw herself on the couch, not caring that she hit Dally with her feet. Dally growled, his anger flaring up.

"Your fucking feet stink get them out of my face." he whined. Maggie moved her feet so they were together on one side of the couch and Dallas moved his feet so they were on the other side of the couch. (A/N: They had their heads at different ends and then there feet behind the others heads you know? And No, lol, this is not meant in a romantic way, more of a brother and sister way).

Maggie closed her eyes slowly and drifted off into another period of sleep.

The next time she woke up, it was clearly morning. She could here Darry, Soda, and Steve in the kitchen, and just as she was wondering when Two Bit was going to show up he did. And as he did he slammed the door, in turn waking up Dallas on the other end of the couch.

He cursed under his breath a little before rubbing his eyes and sitting up, giving one short glance to Maggie before getting up and heading to the kitchen. Maggie got up also but instead went to the bathroom to redo her pony tail.

When she was done she made her way to the kitchen to find French toast, eggs, grape jelly, chocolate cake, and beer, waiting for her on the counter. She rolled her eyes and the last three and moved on to the French toast and eggs. She took one piece of French toast and a spoonful of eggs before getting herself a glass of milk. She juggled it all as she carried it into the table to join Johnny and Ponyboy.

"Hey, Mags." they both greeted her as they looked up from their breakfast which was similar to hers.

"Hey, Pony, Johnny." she greeted back as she sat her stuff down at the table and began to dig in.

"How'd you sleep last night?" Johnny said quietly with a grin.

"Yeah, Mags." Pony played along. "Looks like Johnny's not the only one who can get to ol' Dallas." Maggie glared at them both.

"You watch that mouth, or **I'll **beat your head in!" Dally's deep voice said as he made his way to the table with his own breakfast of just plain eggs. Pony blushed a deep crimson red and turned his eyes back to his plate. Johnny just stared at Mags, a weird smirk on his face.

After eating in silence for a few minutes the 4 of them were soon joined by Soda, Darry, Two Bit, and Steve, all with their own version of breakfast on their plates.

"Maggie," Darry began after he swallowed a spoonful of eggs, "I enrolled you in school yesterday and they decided they'd put you up a grade so you can be with Pony. You think you can handle it?" he asked.

Maggie nodded, thinking it over. She had always done well in school, strait A's, ever though she never liked going to school. Darry nodded back to her and returned to his food.

"Two Bit, you giving us a ride to school today?" Pony asked as he finished up his plate. Two Bit shook his head.

"Dallas is going to take you. I ain't goin' to school today." he explained, his mouth full of food.

"Ok." was all Pony answered before leaving to go get ready some more. Maggie followed him and put her plate in the sink. Before the idea could even struck her that she had no clothes to where for her first day back at school, all 7 guys were standing in front of her.

Darry in the middle standing with something clearly hidden behind his back, the others were crowded around him to stop her from seeing what ever it was.

"What are you guys doing?" she asked curiously as she placed her hands on her hips and tried to look around them to see what it was they were all trying to hide so hardly. They all chuckled for a few seconds before starting to nod at Darry.

He grinned before slowly taking his hands out from behind his box.

A badly wrapped present started to come in view. The bow was crocked and didn't match with the paper and the paper was all loose and almost about ready to come off by its self. Maggie grinned unsurely. What were all of them think? They barely even knew her and they were letting her live in their house, coming to her doctor's appointments with her, giving her presents, and enrolling her in school. There just had to be something wrong with them.

"Its a present from all of us to start your life here." Darry explained, a stupid looking grin plastered on his face. Maggie just nodded slowly as she reached out and took the present from Darry. She looked down at the present and then back up at all of them before untying the bow and taking the paper off.

A blue tee shirt lay in side with a pair of worn out and faded jeans and at the bottom lay a pair of black hie top Converse shoes. Maggie smiled, just the kind of clothes she liked.

"I swiped the shoes for you!" Two Bit exclaimed happily, gesturing madly with his finger to the shoes. Maggie smiled even wider. He was so stupid sometimes and she was beginning to realize it.

"And Darry picked up the pants for you at a rummage sale." Pony added.

"And...well, we're not quite sure where Dally got the tee shirt from." Soda explained as he scratched his head and looked at the tee shirt. Maggie looked over at Dally and raised an eyebrow. He just shrugged, not showing any emotion like always.

"Thanks a lot you guys. This really means a lot to me. Except..." she said, looking from one to the other, "why'd you guys do this? I mean you guys barely even know me."

"We know enough." was all Darry said before they all left, leaving Maggie in the kitchen with her new clothes. She sighed heavily as she clutched her things, she just didn't get how they could be so nice to her.

She recollected herself and moved on to the bathroom. There, right by the shower, she found a fresh new package of underwear. She had actually forgotten all about that herself. She put her new clothes with a new pair of underwear by the sink and began running hot shower water. She shivered when she hopped in, she still hadn't gotten used to having hot showers for her when ever she wanted one. She washed her hair and body as quickly as possible, she had no idea what time she had to be ready to leave by.

When she jumped out she dressed and towel dried her hair before throwing it up in a ponytail and smoothing it down. She examined herself in the mirror. Her eyes made her look so haunted. Her bright hazel color was more of an empty hazel color instead of a happy shiny one. She shook her head and opened the door, a cloud of steam following her as she walked back to the living room. Her jeans and shirt fit her just the way she liked, not to tight and not to loose.

She threw herself into the couch cushions next to Dallas and stared around the room as Soda rushed to get ready and Steve watched him grinning evilly as Soda complained about where his shoe was, even though Steve knew exactly where it was. Finally Maggie couldn't take his whining anymore.

"Its over there!" she said impatiently as she pointed to a spot near the couch. Steve glared at her as he continued to stuff his face with chocolate cake.

"Your too much like Dallas and Steve. You should be more like Pony." Darry commented with a sigh as he began to read his paper.

"Hey," Steve complained, "What's wrong with being like me and Dally? Better then being a drunk like Two Bit." Darry nodded completely agreeing with Steve's last comment about Two Bit. Two Bit however didn't.

Two Bit turned around from his spot in front of the t.v and whacked Steve a good one with a pillow, sending Steve following backwards off the arm of the couch and splattering chocolate cake on his face. Two Bit and Maggie cracked up laughing as Steve sat up, glaring at them both, and whipped the some of the chocolate icing off.

Darry moved his paper down took one look at Steve and moved it right back up before commenting. "You get that on my rug Randle and I"ll beat your head in." Steve glared at me and Two Bit some more before walking to the kitchen, most likely to get something to clean his face off with. Maggie took a few deep breathes after her coughing spell and turned back to the t.v. Mickey mouse, again!


	7. Celebration for Nothing

Maggie heaved a heavy sigh as she sat down in her seat for her first class of freshman year. She didn't know anyone in her class and everyone stared at her like she was some kind of freak, even the greasers. She stared around the room at everyone. The only girls in her classes were either stuck up socs or slutty greasers, no girl like her was in sight. She was on her own.

She had received her class schedule when Dallas had taken her to school earlier. She found out she had only one class with Pony and one class with Johnny. She was not going to have a good year if she couldn't find someone to talk to in these stupid classes.

She averted all her attention to the front of the room as the teacher finally began to start class. Maggie sighed with relief when she realized the teacher wasn't going to introduce her to the rest of the class because she was new.

The rest of the day dragged on and Maggie was unable to find Pony and Johnny at lunch but instead got stuck sitting by herself at a table in the corner of the cafeteria, packing at her disgusting food. She gleamed with joy when the final bell rang and practically ran for the door.

When she finally reached her locker she skidded to a halt, almost knocking the person next to her down. After muttering a 'sorry' to the her she turned to her locker and began to work the lock. She fiddled with it for few minutes before finally getting it right except when she tried to open it, it was jammed. She groaned and pounded on it tiredly, it had been doing this all day and she could hardly take it anymore. She pounded on it with her fists some more, getting more and more angry with every single punch. Finally she sighed and looked down at her feet in agony.

She felt it but she couldn't see the hand that moved across her face and hit her locker with one solid punch. Her locker popped open immediately and Maggie's eyes shot up and behind her to the person who had just hit her locker. There he was. The same person she had met the night before. Curly. She smiled weakly at him. He returned her smile with an icy gaze just staring at her.

Finally after a few seconds he spoke. "I'll walk you out." he said before turning around, waiting for her to put her things in her locker. She threw her things in her locker not bothering to clean it up a bit and slammed it shut before turned back around to face Curly. She gave him a short nod and they began walking out. They walked in silence for a while, Maggie staring down at the ground and Curly puffing on a weed. Once they had gotten down the stairs Maggie looked around, trying to find Dally's car in all the mayhem of all the teenagers leaving.

Whey she finally caught sight of his car she also caught sight of him. He was standing next to his car, a blond headed greaser bimbo in front of him. She rolled her eyes and started walking towards his car, Curly still following beside her, puffing on a weed still. When she finally reached Dally's car she whirled around and stared at Curly.

He returned her stare with his own icy one. Finally, after a few minutes Maggie decided to talk.

"Thanks for walking me." she said quietly as she examined her feet. She could feel is gaze boring into her and she didn't want to look up, but she did it anyway.

He nodded to her shortly before putting out his weed. "I'll see ya round." he said before turning around and walking away. Maggie turned around again and faced Dally, who was now along leaning on his car with his arms crossed in front of his chest. Maggie stared at him, really not seeing what was wrong.

"What do you think your doing talkin' to Curly Shepard?" he asked in a dangerous voice. Maggie's eyes widened, she hadn't realized that Curly was Tim's little brother. "He's 16 for Christ's sakes Maggie! That's three years older then you." Dally said, his voice getting deeper and more dangerous with every word.

Maggie surprised herself when she didn't get angry but got annoyed.

She rolled her eyes to show it and walked swiftly over and got in the passenger seat. She waited for Dally to get in before she started talking.

"We were just talking Dally and really it wasn't even that. He just walked me to your car and helped my open my locker after school. You don't have to get all over protected on me. You sound like an older brother or something." she told him as she stared out the window. She could feel Dally scowl even though he wasn't looking at her. He didn't like people thinking that he cared. Even about the smallest thing. Maggie suppressed a sigh and finally relaxed into Dally's leather seats as he sped towards the Dingo, where they had decided earlier that morning they would meet with the whole gang to celebrate.

What they were celebrating Maggie had no idea, but she was open to the idea of getting to eat a nice juicy cheeseburger and French fries.

A few minutes later Dally parked next to Steve's car that was already sitting in the parking lot. She slide out of the passenger side and looked around before following Dally into the Dingo. Once inside they spotted the rest of the gang in the back sitting at a huge table. There were 2 spots open right next to each other for Maggie and Dally and they both took them. A waiter joined them shortly after and took everyone's order, looking over whelmed.

"So, what exactly are we celebrating here?" Maggie asked as she cocked an eyebrow and looked around at all of them.

"I dunno." Two Bit said and shrugged. The rest of the gang shrugged too and Maggie just nodded. They were celebrating for nothing.

"Well, I got a new girlfriend." Soda pipped up, making them all crack up. The thought of celebrating because Soda got a new girlfriend was greatly funny to all of them.

"And I got strait A's on my report card." Pony added as he took a big gulp of Coke.

"I didn't pull any muscles at work." Darry also added, starting a chain between all of them.

"I only got slapped by 2 blonde's last night when I went partying." Two Bit said, plastering a goofy grin on his face. Maggie chuckled along with the rest of the guys.

"Yeah, and I'm Elvis fucking Presley." Dally growled, obviously annoyed with the little game they had started playing. All eyes turned to Dally.

"What's up your ass, Dal?" Steve asked with a snarl. Maggie turned to Dally just in time to catch him glaring at her.

"He caught Curly walking me to his car this afternoon and got all mad." Maggie said with a shrug. All eyes shifted from Dally to Maggie.

"What were _you _doing with Curly Shepard?" Darry snarled at the mention of his name. Maggie shrugged and mad a face that clearly let them all know she was annoyed.

"He helped me with my locker is that a crime?" she snapped at all of them as she looked around the table, waiting for one of them to say something. They all just shifted uncomfortably and Dally grunted. Maggie turned and glared at him.

A few minutes later all thoughts were forgotten about the Curly conversation and everyone dug into their freshly cooked food instead. They all laughed at Steve and Two Bit who managed to get ketchup and mustard all over the fronts of their shirts and their mouths.

An hour later they were all relaxing in the Curtis family living room. They were all spread out on the couch or the floor, their stomach full. Maggie rubbed her temples at the sound of Two Bit's crazy laughter as Mickey did something stupid on the t.v. All his yelling and laughing was giving her a head ache, something she didn't need at the moment. Especially since Dally was still glaring at her ever so often.

"Hey!" Steve cried from the coffee table. "You cheated!"

"Did not!" Soda yelled back as he quickly hid another ace deep within his shoe.

"I just saw that Ace in your shoe, buddy." Steve said as he pointed to Soda's shoe. When Soda was playing poker had to be the only time when he actually did want to wear shoes.

A sly grin crept over Soda's face and he was unable to with hold his laughter in any more. Steve growled in anger and put his fish up on the table.

"Come on, let's go. Right now." he said as he pointed to his arm. Soda's face quickly turned serious as he stuck his arm up on the table and they began to arm wrestle. Maggie shook her head and rubbed her temples. This head ache was never going to get any better if she didn't get away from all this sound. Without a warning to anyone she hopped to her feet and walked outside, pulling her light blue shirt down as she went.

She breathed in the cold winter air as she sat down on the cracked concrete steps. She rested her elbows on her legs and then her chin on her elbows and stared out into nothingness. She breathed in deep a few more times and then closed her eyes. She loved the cool winter air it had to be one of her most favorite things.

She thought back to the first few days she had spent in the harsh winter season out on the street, trying to survive and feed herself. Those were some of the toughest times in her life and yet she still had the heart to enjoy winter. It was almost crazy.

She popped her eyes back open and straightened up as she looked up at the stars for a few seconds before she averted her eyes back to the road.

In the clear night she could make out a muscular tall figure making its way towards her, the glow of a weed coming from his lips. She squinted to see more clearly and a few seconds later figure out it was Curly. She looked back threw the window of the door to the house to make sure no one was watching her. After being satisfied that no one was she lifted her hand up and yelled out to him. His head snapped in her direction and then he changed courses, coming more towards her.

"What're you doing out so late in the cold with no jacket?" he asked as he undid the latch to the fence and sat down besides her.

"Trying to get away from all that noise." she explained as she pressed a thumb in the direction of the house. He nodded and took another puff of his weed before flicking it towards the ground. She watched him, waiting to see if he was going to get up and stomp on it. When he didn't she did it for him. She hated when people left them burning on the ground.

She sat back down after stomping it out and looked back towards him. His gaze was averted to the road and surrounding houses. He seemed like he was just staring to be looking anywhere but at her. They sat there in silence for what seemed like to Maggie forever before he finally spoke.

"Wanna go to the Double tomorrow night?" he asked, not even turning to look at her.

Maggie thought about it and questions began to swim in her mind. Why was he asking her? Did he just want something? Did he actually like her? Did he have other plans? Was he going to rap her?

Finally she put a halt to all the questions and stuttered out a yes. He nodded slowly before pushing himself off the steps.

"Pick you up tomorrow at 7:00 was all he said before disappearing into the darkness again. Maggie nodded slowly to herself. Now she was going to have to find something to wear and a way to keep Dallas off her back long enough for her to leave with Curly. She sighed heavily.

She wasn't going to get much sleep tonight!

**_Author's Note:_**

**NO, THIS IS NOT GOING TO TURN INTO A ROMANCE! Lol. You guys will just have to wait for the next chapter to see what I'm going to do with it. And yes, Two Bit's couzin will come into the story more as it progresses:D Thanks to ALL reviewers, love ya's!**


	8. Small Morning Fight

**_Author's Note_**

**_THANK YOU TO THE REVIEWERS:_**

_**XAmberX**- Yeah that's what I thought, too. Lol. So its not really going to end up in a romance but you know there will be something, lol. Don't worry. Thanks so much for the review lol and sorry about this chapter being so short!_

_**sokkazukofan- **Thank you so much for your review lol its means a lot. And I know this chapter doesn't elaborate on her and Curly but it will get there lol._

_**QTpie4- **Lol, don't worry I AM NOT GOING TO MAKE CURLY BAD, lol. No badder then he is in the book ne way:D_

_**Guitar Gal Slash- **Yeah, I like adding more of the Shepard boys too lol. I've always like them even though they don't say much about them in the book. Sorry about this chapter being so short but I'm kind of leading up to the big BANG! lol. :D_

_**Bluebear13- **Ready the next chapter and you'll find out, lol! Thanks for your review!_

_**sodaschick- **Here's my update lol. I know its not very long but this is it for now. Plus I really dind't have the time for a long one lol. _

_**Eternal Dragon101- **Thanks! I'm really glad people are likeing my story, it means a lot to me actually._

_**kipper503- **Yeah, I've really always wanted to make Dally into the big brother type instead of the hard core romance type you know? I just thought I could change his role around in this one. Thanks BUNCHES for your review!_

* * *

Maggie woke up the next morning, groggy as ever. She had been right, she hadn't gotten that much sleep that night and she couldn't seem to focus herself on doing what she needed to do to get ready for the day. Her mind kept drifting back to Curly. She had never been on a real date before. Heck, she had never even gotten a look from a guy before. She was always just some girl on the street that no one cared about. That everyone thought was even lower than a greaser. 

She sighed as she finished making the eggs, she had been the first one up because she couldn't sleep anymore.

"Anybody here?" she heard Steve called from the living room.

"Don't slam the door." she called back. But sure enough they slammed the door. She growled softly to herself. Those boys never listen.

She listened as they joked around and made there way to the kitchen. She looked up to see Two Bit and Steve trying to sneak up on her. She grinned and shook her head.

"You guys have to be quieter then that." she told them as she put the eggs in a bowl. She moved to the refrigerator to get the milk and chocolate syrup.

"Hey, Mags, grab me a beer while your in there, would ya?" Two Bit asked. Maggie sighed and grabbed a beer. She looked up and smiled evilly at Two Bit. Then, before he could do anything to stop her she opened it and took a gulp. She swallowed, letting the bitter liquid flow down her throat. She smiled. She had always loved the taste of beer.

"**Maggie Lee!" **she heard a stern voice shout. She gulped again before turning fearfully towards the door. "What in **hell **do you think your doing!" Darry shouted as he moved towards her. She shrugged slightly, not wanting to give Darry the wrong answer.

"You are only **13**! What the hell do you think your doing drinking beer?" he yelled as he stopped right in front of her, towering over her cowering form.

"Oh, come on, Darry." Two Bit defended. "She was only trying to have a little fun." Darry whipped around and faced Two Bit, daring him to say more. Two Bit put his hands up in mock surrender and gave Maggie an apologetic look. Just when Maggie thought she was hopeless Pony sprang to her defense.

"Come on, Darry." he said a small smirk on his lips. "I really don't think is the first time she's ever drank." everyone else nodded in agreement.

"That's for damn sure." Dally commented as he walked into the kitchen to join the rest of them. Maggie whipped around and glared at him.

"I never told you I've been drunk before." she shouted at him throwing her hands up in anger. How could he possibly know that?

"I got connections." he shrugged as he slipped past her and opened the frig, grabbing a beer. Darry glared at Maggie expecting her to grab that one and take a gulp out of it too. She shook her head, starting to cower again.

**_THE NEXT CHAPPY SHALL BE THE DATE! Lol. But yeah I'm kind of leading up to it if you haven't noticed lol._**


	9. Romance Short Lived

**_THIS CHAPTER IS DEDICATED TO:_**

oOoRikku4EveroOo  
XAmberX

Trench Mouth  
QTpie4

**_4 OF MANY OF MY FIRST REVIEWERS! THANKS A LOT GUYS! THIS IS FOR YOU!_**

Maggie walked slowly out of the front door of the Curtis house, her pants slightly bugging her. She had told the gang that she was going to the movie's but she had conveniently let out the part about going with Curly Shepard. After that she had gone and stolen herself a pair of jeans and a quarter sleeve shirt. The jeans were tighter then she was used to but they hugged her in all the right places. They were a dark dark shade and matched perfectly with her pink v neck three quarter shirt.

She had applied a little make up here or there just to add some darkness to her face. She had also decided to let her hair down for the occasion. She was surprised to find out that her hair had grown down to the middle of her back and was actually shiny compared to her usually greasy hair unwashed hair. She was also surprised to find that she had a little confidence in herself too.

She breathed in deeply as she looked both ways down the street and then back towards the house. All she could do was prey that no one from the gang walked out when Curly showed up. Otherwise she would be in _deep _shit.

She looked to her left at the sound of screeching tires. A red car speed her way and came to a quick stop in front of her. She looked in to the car from the passenger side to see none other than Curly sitting in the driver's seat, smirking back at her. She smiled and looked back to the house, making sure no one had decided to see who's car was making all the noise. When she was satisfied no one was coming out she hoped in the car next to Curly and buckled her seat belt.

He cocked in eye brow at her. "What? I'm not getting in a car with you without a seat belt!" she explained, making Curly chuckle slightly as he put the car in drive and started to speed away. She smirked at the speed, Dallas usually watched his speed when she was in the car for some odd reason, or at least he tried to anyway.

"You don't talk much do you?" Curly asked as he lit up a cigarette while still trying to drive. Maggie looked from the wheel and then at him until he took the wheel with both hands again.

"Not usually. I'm not really used to being around people that much." she confessed as she fiddled with the hem of her shirt.

"Why's that?" he asked as he puffed on his weed. Maggie hesitated for a few seconds. Its not like he would care, or would he? She had been qualified as lower then a greaser for a month or so. What would he think though? Pity? Disgust?

"It was nothing really. Just a couple things that happened to me a while back." she said in a soft voice, barely audible. She was a horrible lier but she was hoping that Curly wouldn't notice. It didn't seem like he noticed much of anything anyway.

She could see him nod a little out of the corner of her eye but she just kept looking ahead.

"You know you don't have to lie." Curly said suddenly a couple minutes later. Maggie snapped her head in his direction, a look of surprise written clearly on her face. He knew?

"I..." she started but trailed off, she really didn't know what to say. He turned to look at her, his eyes showing no emotion at all.

"Tim told me." was all he said before turning back to the road. Maggie snapped her head back to the road, a scowl was all that was on her face now.

"Let me guess! He told you I was lower then dirt and a homeless little bitch that a greaser shouldn't even date. Am I right?" she asked harshly.

"No." Curly returned, just as harshly as she had spoken. "He told me that you were a homeless and that Darry and his gang took ya in. That's all he said."

Maggie was about to say something else but stopped herself when she realized that they were at the Double already. She sighed and waited impatiently as they waited for all the cars to pay their fee and drive in. Finally, about 2 minutes later they were parked and waiting for the movie to start.

Maggie sighed. Suddenly she was feeling really bad for snapping at Curly like she had. She really didn't have a right to jump to conclusions like she did. "I'm really sorry, Curly. I didn't mean to snap at you like that." she said, her conscious getting the best of her. He grunted and smirked.

"I'm gonna go get a coke. You want something'?" he asked as he reached for his door handle. Maggie smiled at the offer and shook her head no.

"Ok, I'll be back in a minute." he said as he opened the door and then closed it behind him again. As soon as Curly was out of site, Maggie pulled the mirror down and looked at her reflection, trying to make sure her hair and make up looked ok. When she was finally satisfied she closed it back up and waited for Curly impatiently.

She was nervous and had no idea what was going to happen. She moved closer to the middle nervously. For some reason she really didn't have that kind of feelings for Curly but then again it was exciting because she had never been on a real date. She had never been to a movie, in a car, with a guy, before. She sighed heavily and popped her knuckles.

Finally about 2 minutes later Curly showed up, coke in hand. Maggie smiled warmly at him as he got in the car. She waited until he was situated to move closer to the middle and then lean over and grab a sip of his coke. She smirked at him playfully as she handed the cup back to him. He shook his head and Maggie could tell he was fighting back a smirk too.

"What's this suppose to be about?" she asked as she crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back into the seat, focusing half of her attention on the movie as it began to play.

"Some beach movie." Curly said as he laid his arm slowly over her shoulders. He wasn't like other guys, if he was going to pull a move he was going to do it, not dick around like any other guy.

Maggie grunted. "A beach movie?" she said as she turned to him. She drew back a little, finding it a little shocking that his face was only an inch away from hers. She could see his stubble perfectly in the light of the movie. He nodded slowly as he looked into her eyes for another couple seconds before turning back to the movie. She smirked and did the same.

After about 30 minutes of watching the pointless, boring, beach movie Maggie was slumped down in her seat leaning half of her body weight on Curly and resting her head on his shoulder. She yawned a little and moved around a little bit to get a little more comfortable.

"How much longer?" she asked jokingly as she stared up at Curly. He smirked and shrugged back. She shook her head slowly and turned her head back to the movie, only to have it turned back by Curly. She looked into his deep black emotionless eyes and almost shuddered. She was starting to realize that what she felt for Curly was physical attraction. She didn't like him for the way he act or the way he was. But for the way he looked.

He looked down at her, almost questioning her with his eyes before he started to move slowly in, turning his face to the side slightly. She hesitated for a moment thinking about what she was suppose to do.

Does she move in? Or does she wait for him to come to her?

Finally she decided to meet him half way and began to move closer to him, looking down at his lips every now and then as she got closer and closer. When they finally got close enough Maggie closed her eyes and filled in the gap. The next thing she knew his warm lips were brushing against hers in a bittersweet kiss. It was harsh but not too harsh. She pressed her lips harder against his as she continued to kiss him. After a few seconds she opened her mouth and allowed his tounge entry to her mouth. His tounge moved into her mouth slowly as she pushed her tounge out to meet his.

For a first timer she thought she was doing pretty good.

After a few minutes they both parted for air. Maggie closed her eyes as Curly trailed kisses down her ear to her chin and then down her neck. He had so much more experience to her and she could tell. She breathed in deep as his mouth returned to hers again parting her lips to allow him entry.

He pressed against her more and again left her mouth to trail kisses down her neck. Each little kiss sent a tiny shock through her body and she closed her eyes and enjoyed it. He was about to return to her mouth for more kisses when a harsh grunt and a loud voice disturbed them both.

"Curly-" someone started to shout out but stopped mid way. "Maggie?" the same voice asked. Maggie broke apart from Curly and scrambled to the other side of the car and clutched the door handle.

"Two-Bit!" Curly hissed as he clutched the steering wheel so hard his knuckles started to turn white.

"Maggie what the **_fuck _**are you doing in a car with Curly Shepard at the Nightly Double?" Two Bit shouted as he walked quickly to the passenger side of the car.

Maggie barely had enough time to measure what was happening before Two Bit reached the other side of the car. And then it all hit her like a train when Two Bit started dragging her out of the car.

"Wait, Two Bit!" she pleaded as she tried to clutch on to something in the car.

"No, get out of the car right now!" Two Bit shouted even louder as he pulled harder on my arm.

"Your hurting me." Maggie yelled back as she tried to get Two Bit to let go. "Its not what it looks like!" she tried to get him to understand while still trying to make him let go.

"Its exactly what it looks like, Maggie!" Two Bit said as he finally let go of her arm. Curly just sat there all the while in his car not even watching, just clenching the steering wheel.

Maggie took one last look at Curly, just sitting there and not trying to help her before giving up. She let go of the door and slammed it behind her.

"Fine." she said softly, a single tear threating to fall down her cheek. She brushed it away quickly before turning and starting to walk towards the exit. Two Bit cursed loudly before catching up with her.

"What the hell were you thinking Maggie?" he asked softly, too softly.

"I was thinking I wanted to have a little fun." Maggie answered as she looked down at her feet and continued walking.

"If thats your idea of fun, Mags, then I'm sorry but I don't think Darry's gonna want you to live with him any more. I mean come on, Mags, you gotta be smart. You can't end up like all the rest of the greaser gal's around here. Us guys, you know the whole gang want the best for you. We want you to make something of yourself. We don't want you to end up pregnant or somethin'." Two Bit said as he kicked rocks across the road.

"Its not what it looks like Two Bit. Its just...I've never been on a real date before and I just wanted to see what its like. Curly asked me so I accepted. I knew I could take care of myself if he took it too far." Maggie said, brushing away another tear.

Two Bit and Maggie walked the rest of the way in silence, Maggie wondering what Darry was going to do with her and Two Bit wondering what really happened with Maggie in that car with Curly Shepard.


	10. WHOA BUDDY!

**_SHOUT OUTS TO ALL MY NEW FABULOUS REVIEWERS! THANKS SOOOO MUCH!_**

Maggie walked slowly up the step to the Curtis house. Two Bit was already holding the door open for her. She hesitated when she came to it and looked at Two Bit. Tears threatening to spill. But she wouldn't let them, she blinked them away quickly before stepping into the door. It took her eyes a minute to adjust to the light in the living room. Everyone was there. Dally, Steve, Soda. Everyone. And everyone would hear Two Bit's news.

Maggie gave Two Bit one more look, pleading with him with her eyes. But he just looked away, disappointment displayed clearly one his face.

"Darry." Two Bit said, trying to get his attention. Darry looked up from his paper, annoyed that Two Bit was disturbing his peace and quiet that he had going.

"We need to talk." Two Bit said as he motioned for Darry to join him in the kitchen. Maggie slumped down onto the couch, next to Steve, and watched as Darry sighed heavily and threw his paper on the table as he got to his feet.

"You might want to come too, Dal." Two Bit said, motioning this time for Dallas to join him in the kitchen. Dally removed his feet from the coffee table where he had rested them, took one quick glance at Maggie, piecing together that he was about to be told something about her, and then followed Darry and Two Bit into the kitchen.

The tears found there way back to Maggie's eyes. For some odd reason, she was getting this feeling that disappointing Dallas Winston was the last thing she wanted to do. Especially the way that he had been treating her. Besides Johnny, she was the only one that Dallas gave the time of day, too. And to Maggie that was important. Top priority important.

She turned a deep shade of red, from humiliation, sadness, and anger towards herself. She couldn't hear any sounds coming form the kitchen, she had no idea what Two Bit was telling them or what he wasn't. She sat there, tears stinging her eyes. It felt like forever, like time was in slow motion or had stopped moving all together. She drew a sharp breath and right before she let it out she heard a loud shout from the kitchen.

"SHE WHAT!" she hard Dally's voice right before she heard loud stomping. Before she knew it Dallas was standing right in front of her pulling her up by her shirt. He stood her up right in front of her and grabbed her by the shoulder, holding a finger in her face.

"Listen, **doll, **I didn't pick you up off the street and bring you here so you could get involved with people like fucking Curly Sheperd!" he shouted at her, his icy blue eyes glinting with anger. Maggie drew in another shaky breath and tried to ignore the searing pain that Dallas grip was sending through her shoulder. She was so upset and humiliated that she couldn't even choke one word out of her mouth.

"Dal, lighten up." Darry said sternly from the doorway to the kitchen. Dally turned sharply to look at Darry. His eyes still glinting.

"You stay out of it." Dally warned before he turned back to Maggie.

"What were you thinking?" Dally asked sharply as he still held tightly to her shoulder. Maggie drew in a shaky breath and tried to shrug off his hand from his shoulder, but he only tightened his grip.

"I was thinking I'm thirteen years old, Dallas." she said her voice rising slowly. Who was he to tell her who to hang out with? He was doing way worse stuff then her at the age of 13. She was an angel compared to him.

"I'm a teenager, Dallas!" she shouted at him before she reached up and removed his hand from her shoulder. "Would you rather it have been, Pony?" she asked as she motioned to Pony out the couch. He immediately turned a deep shade of red and started examining his feet.

"No, I would have rather'd it not happen at all." Dallas said sharply as he straitened up to his full height. Maggie felt the tears coming back again, she sighed and quickly brushed them away.

"Ok, Dallas. Whatever you say. I'll just go to school, come here, do my homework, clean, cook. You know the regulars. I'll just skip the fun part in my life." her voice cracked as she said the last part, the tears were starting to come faster and she could hardly brush them all away before they fell.

Dallas glared at her, his eyes starting to return to their usual icy coldness.

"You better keep it that way!" he snapped a few seconds later. Maggie nodded. She was almost better off on the streets. She was being contained by a hoodlum that didn't know anything about her. Who didn't **try **to know anything about her. He didn't even want to know anything about her. He just wanted to control her life and cut her off from anything that a normal 13 year old girl would be doing.

She turned to Darry, still brushing tears away. She stared at him, expecting him to give into her too. But nothing ever came. He just looked away, not wanting to meet her eyes. She nodded slowly, letting the tears fall now.

"I'll be back in a little bit, alright?" she said to no one in particular before storming out the door, and letting it slam shut behind her.

"Maggie!" she could hear Dally and Darry call after her but she ignored them. She didn't stop running until she reached the park. She stopped at a swing and slumped down into it. Letting the tears flow freely now. She could here the smacking sound of heavy foots on the road, following the same direction she had token, but she ignored it.

She whipped away the tears again and tried to suck it all up. She really had no reason to cry. All she really needed was a place to sleep and food to eat. She didn't need to have fun. She would probably be having a lot **less **fun if she were still living on the streets or at her sister's house. At least she had the guys in the gang to help her out a little and at leas they were there for her in her time of need. She didn't need to have fun. She could live without it. Pony did.

She looked up at the sound of someone's heavy breathing. She could make out Steve's figure in the dark, moving towards her. Right behind him was Soda.

"What do you guys want?" she asked sharply as she turned away from them to brush away more tears.

"Wanna talk." Steve got out between gasps of air.

"You guys are really out of shape." she commented as they both continued to breath heavily. Steve snarled at her and took the swing next to her, leaving Soda to sit in the wet grass.

"You guys have more funner things to do then sit here and listen to a thirteen year old girl vent about her feelings." she said as she started slowly swinging in her swing, making sure to hit Soda's leg a couple of times. Not hard enough to hurt him, but just hard enough from him to move them.

"Well, we actually just wanted to make sure you didn't get jumped by any Soc's out here." Steve confessed, finally having caught his breath. Maggie nodded. Of course.

"Besides, we thought you could use some company." Soda added. "Dallas over reacted, don't worry about it." he tried to comfort her. Steve glared at his best friend.

"Dallas didn't over react, Maggie. He's right. You can't be hangin' around guys like Curly Sheperd. You get caught with Curly when he jacks a car and you'll go to jail same as him. And chances are nobody will have the money to bail you out either!" Maggie nodded, seeing his point. But that didn't mean Dallas had the right to use force.

"I know what your thinking." Soda said as he pointed to her shoulder. "He didn't mean anything by it. He just gets so mad sometimes he doesn't think about what he's doing."

"I know." Maggie said slowly. "It did hurt though."

Maggie woke up the next morning, her shoulder still aching. She sighed heavily and lifted herself up off the couch. She looked around, no one from the gang was there yet and she couldn't here Darry up. She slowly got to her feet and rubbed her shoulder a little bit before going over to her little corner where she had stashed some clothes. She looked threw them all before deciding on an old DX shirt that had been Steve's and a pair of hip hugger jeans. She walked towards the bathroom and checked down the hall to see if Darry was up yet. When she was satisfied he wasn't she closed the bathroom door and started the shower.

She ran the water until it got to the temperature that she liked it at. She hoped in and washed her self quickly before jumping back out and drying off. She towel dried her hair and let it hang curly and wet at her shoulder's. Her hair was starting to darken now that it was winter. Her once light brown hair was now a darker brown. Her eyes were some what happier, too. But only by a little bit.

She threw on her clothes and put on a little foundation before stepping out of the bathroom, steam following behind her.

She met Darry on her way back to the kitchen. "Shower's open." she told him quietly as she moved to let him by.

"Thanks." he said shortly before walking by and to the bathroom. Maggie sighed and walked to the kitchen. She went strait to the frig and pulled out everything that gang loved to eat for breakfast and got to work on cooking it all. When she was only half way done everyone in the gang started showing up.

"That looks good on you." Steve commented when he came into the kitchen. "Little big but it looks good." Steve added. Maggie smiled and nodded.

"Tell the guys that breakfast is almost ready." she yelled after Steve who gave her a little wave to show he had heard her. She shook her head. Sometimes she felt a lot older then she was. They were the ones supposed to be taking care of her, and here she was cooking breakfast for all of them. It was a vicious circle.

About 10 minutes later a swarm of guys came threw the kitchen grabbing at any kind of food they could get there hands on and shoving it on there plates in huge piles. Maggie hung back in the corner waiting for all of them to leave before she got her own.

"Hey, Mags, get me a beer would ya?" Two Bit called as he juggled two plate fulls of food.

Maggie smirked. "You can get your own beer this time, Two Bit." she said as she finally moved to get some food.

"Hey, it wasn't my fault you decided to take a swig of it." Two Bit said before moving into the living room with his piece of chocolate cake and a beer.

Maggie smirked and started to spoon herself a little bit of eggs.

"How's your shoulder?"

Maggie turned to stare up into Dallas' cold blue eyes.

"Its fine." she snapped. "Thanks for asking." she added sarcastically. Dally grunted.

"Your more like Steve then me." he told her as he made his way over to get some food. She shrugged. Like being like Steve was a bad thing?

She turned around and grabbed a glass of chocolate milk on the counter and headed towards the dinning room table where Pony, Johnny, and Darry were eating like civilized people. She set her food down and started eating, occasionally looking up to look at Darry and Pony. Two Bit had slipped it to her that Darry and Pony had had a fight last night while she was at the park, with Soda and Steve, about Pony's grades. She could feel the tension in the air almost thick enough to cut with a knife and Maggie was secretly thanking God that she wasn't there to witness the fight. She knew how heated Darry could get about things like that. She felt so bad for Pony even though he was older. He had to be a class ahead just like her and Darry expected him to get all strait A's. Sometimes it just didn't work that way.

She finished her food about 10 minutes later and got up from the table and placed her dishes in the sink. She sighed and leaned against the counter, sipping the last of her chocolate milk as she thought about life. She hadn't had that much trouble with her disease lately. At least no pains anyway. Besides that life was doing ok. But then again there was Curly Sheperd and the huge fight she had had with Dally last night. She couldn't tell if it was worth it or not. Getting in a fight for wanting to have some fun. Maybe she had actually token it too far with Curly. He was 3 years older then her.

She looked up quickly at the sound of footsteps. "Hey, Johnny." she greeted with a small smile. He nodded to her and put his dishes carefully in the sink.

"Your ok, right? I mean, Dal, didn't hurt you or nothin', did he?" Maggie shook her head.

"Its just a bruise. Its not going to kill me." she explained with a shrug and she turned around and washed out her cup. She turned around at the sound of more loud footsteps except this time it was Dallas.

Maggie moved away from the sink so she could stay out of Dally's way. He looked at her, his eyes glinting from the morning sunshine coming threw the window. She gave him a weak unsure smile but all he did was nod. She blew air out of her mouth in exasperation. He was the one that hurt her yet he was still mad? _Screw that, _she thought as she pushed herself off of the counter and walked to the living room. She weaved her way around all of Two Bit's body parts on the floor before sitting down on the couch next to Steve, who was sitting on the arm rest. He gave her as much of a smile as Steve Randle could give and rested his arm on her shoulders as she set and watched in amusement at Soda, rushing around the living room looking to his shoe.

Steve leaned down to whisper in her ear the same time Dallas came back from the kitchen. "Look over there. Beside the couch." Steve whispered to her, his hot breathe tickling her ear. She looked slightly over to the edge of the couch. And sure enough, there was Soda's gray high tip Converse shoe. She held in a giggle and looked up at Dallas. He was glaring at Steve, who was glaring right back. She rolled her eyes at the both of them and looked around the room. It was the same as every morning. She was almost getting tired of it. She sprang up from the couch suddenly, almost knocking Steve off of the arm of the couch. She needed to do something, something to keep herself busy.

She moved into the kitchen and looked around, the only thing to do was dishes. So, she moved on. Just as she had moved on to Pony and Soda's room to see if there was anything to do in there Dallas yelled to her from the living room.

"Time to go, Maggie." he shouted and she could hear his heavy footsteps headed towards the door. She sighed heavily and left Soda and Pony's room, headed for the living. When she got there she saw that the whole living room was almost completely deserted except for Dally, who was waiting by the door for her. She grabbed her books and headed over to him.

"Is it safe to get in the car with you yet?" she asked sarcastically, referring to his heated temper lately. She just wanted to make sure he was going to try and swing her all over the car doing 70 or 80 miles per hour or something. He glared at her before turning away and opening the door. He walked slowly down the stairs, Maggie right after him.

5 minutes later Maggie slide out of the car and waved to Dally before heading up the steps and into school. _Another boring day, _she thought as she threw her books in her locker and exchange them for her first period Language book.

**_WHAT'S UP, PEOPLE? I'm back again! Lol. I'm really glad I updated and this chappy is longer, too. I was going to make it even longer but then I decided not to leave you guys waiting any longer. And about the gray high top Converse shoes. For some odd reason I can just picture Rob Low wearing those kind of shoes when he was that age. I dunno why though, lol. But anyway. R&R for me people. Let me know if this story is getting better as I go along or if its getting worse._**


	11. DRAMA DRAMA DRAMA

Maggie walked slowly threw the doors of the school. Pony and Johnny had already left saying they had something to do. Maggie was unsure of what it was but she didn't care much either. She liked them both just fine but sometimes they seemed even more childish then she did.

She breathed in the cool air and blew it out again, watching as her breath drifted in a little cloud of wet air. She looked around the parking lot, searching for Dally's car. He was supposed to be picking her up today but somehow she didn't think he would be. Not after all the fighting they had been having lately. She sighed, she had at least figured Steve would come and pick her up but he wasn't here either.

She walked down the steps being careful not to slip on any ice and started walking in the direction of the DX. She didn't have any homework and she really didn't want to go home and spend time with Pony, Johnny, and Two Bit so she figured she could just go and hang out with Soda and Steve. Maybe get Steve to teach her some stuff about cars.

She looked down at her feet as she walked trying not to pay any attention to the Mustang trailing her and yelling things. She took in a shaky breath. It wasn't the first time Maggie had to go through this but she hadn't going through it when she didn't really have to and this was one of those times. She could have been in Dally's car right this second staring out her window or glaring at Dallas. But instead she was walking in the blistering cold (which didn't really bug her) and being followed by some jerks in a Mustang with nothing better to do then pick on her.

She looked up quickly, trying to see if they were still there. They were.

She looked up ahead, the gas station was only a few blocks away. If she could just make it without having to run she would be fine. _Too late, _she thought as she heard the Mustang coming to a screeching stop. She looked over while still walking to see 5 Socs get out of the car. She quickened her pace hoping that she could make it in time without having to mess with these guys. Nope, she couldn't do that either.

She whirled around a Soc put a hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him, he was at least a foot taller then her but she still was intimidated. If she could handle Dallas, she could handle this punk. The Soc removed his hand and smirked as the others lined up behind him.

"You know, your so poor you make the greasers look bad." he commented as the others laughed. She felt her face flush with anger. That's all it was to them. Rich and poor. She stepped up to him, secretly preying to God that her fish could make it all the way up to his nose. She looked down at her feet, trying to act nervous. Then, when he least expected it, she quickly looked up and knocked him right in the nose.

He swayed back as his nose spewed blood. He gasped and snorted with pain as he tried to keep the blood from falling onto his nice, clean shirt. Maggie didn't even have enough time to turn around before the other 4 Socs were on top of her. She could handle one but not 4.

She fought them trying to kick and punch the best she could but she got tired quickly and it wasn't long before they had her on the ground one sitting on her waist.

"Teach the bitch a lesson." one of them yelled. Maggie's eyes widened. Would they seriously hit a girl? Maggie grunted with pain as one of there fists connected with her cheek. This was her cue to scream.

"STEVE! SODA!" she yelled quickly before the same one's fist connected with her lips. She felt the copper taste of blood and seering pain went through her lip. She tried to reach up a hand to feel her lip but they were pinning her down. The same one was about to hit her again when Maggie finally got an idea.

She quickly brought her knee up and rammed him where the sun don't shine. He yelped and fell off of her, holding himself. But just as fast as that happened another Soc was on top of her and two of them were pinning her down.

"Your gonna pay for that." the one on top of her said, but he never got to make her pay. He was shoved off of Maggie and wrestled to the ground by what looked like Steve. Another one was brought down by Soda and then somehow Two Bit even got one. Maggie stood up, swaying on her feet for a second. She looked around as she watched three of her friends wrestle the Socs in her defense. She turned her head to the side and spit out blood. She immediately brought her hand up to her lip to feel it. Her lip was busted. She groaned and plopped down on the grass away from all the fights.

A couple of minutes later the Socs were scrambling and running to their car while Two Bit, Steve, and Soda got up to check on Maggie.

"You ok, Mags?" Soda asked as he knelt down beside her. Maggied nodded slowly and looked up at Soda.

"Hey," Two Bit exclaimed, "look at that! She ain't even crying!" he said with a huge stupid grin on his face. Steve glared at him and Two Bit's grin disappeared.

"Come on, Mags." Steve said as he helped her to her feet and turned around.

"What?" Maggie asked as she looked at Steve still standing in front of her. Steve grinned and evil grin and looked at Soda. Soda grinned just as evilly before throwing Maggie onto Steve's back. Maggie groaned.

"You guys." she whinned as Steve started walking the two blocks to the station while Maggie clung to his back.

A few minutes later Steve sat Maggie down in a chair at the DX and turned around to look at her.

"Ok." he said, all serious now. "What in the hell were you thinking walking alone?" he asked. Maggie rolled her eyes.

"I wouldn't have been walking' if Dallas had picked me up like he was supposed to." she told the three of them. They all looked at each other and Steve cursed.

"Should a known." Soda commented as he sat himself down on the top of the counter. They all looked up a couple minutes later at the sound of the bell on the door. Dally had just come in.

"Fuck." he said as he looked at Maggie. She nodded slowly, glaring at him.

"Where the hell were you?" Soda asked him as he hopped off the counter again. Steve joined Soda, anger glinting in his eyes.

"I was on my way but when I got there she was gone." he told them as he started walking over to Maggie. He knelt down in front of her and tried to meet her eyes but she kept shifting her head. He turned her chin lightly to each side so he could see her face.

"Fucking Soc bastards!" he said as he stood up again.

"Don't you think you should be cursing yourself out?" Steve asked harshly. Dallas turned and glared at him.

"Its not his fault. I should have known better then to walk alone." Maggie told them, really not knowing why she was defending Dallas all the sudden. Steve turned suddenly to her.

"Why are you defending him, Maggie? Have you looked at your face in the mirror lately?" he asked sharply as he pointed a finger at her. She looked down at her feet almost feeling the sting of tears in her eyes, but she pushed it away. She couldn't cry over this, she was getting weak.

"Look, Steve, its a really not that big of a deal. I mean, I can handle pain ok? Just let it go." she pleaded with him as she got to her feet. He grunted.

"You shouldn't have to handle the pain, Maggie. Not when you shouldn't of had to in the first place." Steve said as he glared at Dally for a few seconds before walking back into the garage cursing to himself softly. Maggie turned to Soda. He looked disappointed, too. She sighed and looked down again as she pushed her dark auburn hair out of her face.

"Look, Maggie-" she heard Dallas start but she shook her head at him and walked into the garage with Steve, hoping he would still show her a few things. She looked around the garage as she walked. It smelt like car grease and gas. She moved on steering her way out of the car grease laying in puddles on the ground. She found Steve under the hood of a car and snuck up quietly behind him. She stuck her head under the car suddenly.

"Hey!" she said loudly right next to his ear.

"Jesus, Maggie." he shouted at her, nearly knocking his head on the hood of the car. Maggie smirked at him.

"I was hoping you could show me a few things. About cars I mean." she said as she tucked her hair behind her ear again. He grinned at her.

"You really want to know a little about cars?" he asked, surprise in his voice. She nodded eagerly, still smiling.

"Ok." he nodded and lead her over to a tool box with a bunch of tools in it. "I'm gonna ask you for a took ok? And your just gonna hand it to me." he told her as he pointed to the tools.

"Ok." she said a little unsure of herself.

"Now this is a wrench." he told her as he pointed to a tool. She nodded and smiled as he went off and listed every tool that he would have to use. After a few more minutes Steve finally started working under the hood. Maggie did the best she could at handing him tools sometimes handing him the wrong tool on purpose and then cracking up.

3 hours later they packed up and Soda and Steve clocked out and said bye to the next shift of guys coming in.

"Thanks, Steve." Maggie said still smiling. He nodded and threw and arm around her. She walked with them out to Steve's car and climbed in between them. It was a quiet ride to the Curtis house besides the radio playing. She climbed out when she got there, wondering she would be in trouble with Darry for walking home or if she would be in trouble for even going to the DX instead of coming home. She sighed and slipped inside before Soda and Steve. She looked around Darry was probably in the kitchen because he wasn't in his chair. Two Bit was in his normal spot on the floor and Pony and Johnny were on the couch. Dallas stood in the bathroom shaving his face for some odd reason.

"Got a hot date tonight Dallas?" Maggie shouted at him playfully forgetting momentarily about the fight. He turned around and glared at her before going back to shaving. Maggie shook her head, he always had a date.

She walked threw the living room, trying to ignore Pony and Johnny's eyes that followed her with every move. She finally got to the kitchen and walked in slowly.

"There you are." Darry said from the stove not even looking up from what he was cooking.

"Here I am." Maggie said nervously as she walked over to Darry. He finally looked up at her and his face filled with rage as he saw her split lip and bruised cheek and eye.

"Did any one bother to give you ice for that?" was the first question out of his mouth. She smiled a little and shook her head.

"It didn't hurt that much." she told him as she looked down at her feet.

"How did it happen?" he asked now as he moved the refrigerator and put some ice in a towel. He walked back over and handed it to her.

"Got jumped," she said as she put the ice on her cheek where it hurt worse, "walking home alone." she added, even though she knew he would yell at her for it.

"Haven't you learned enough around there that yo don't walk home alone?" he shouted at her, banging his fist on the counter. She sighed.

"I know. I'm sorry, Darry." she said looking down at her feet again. She wasn't going to tell him about the part with Dally in it...until Steve showed up in the door way to the kitchen.

"She's not finished yet." Steve said to Darry and shifted his gaze to Maggie, glaring at her to tell him the rest. She glared back at him, resenting what she was about to tell Darry.

"Dallas," she said pausing for a moment to look up at Steve, "was supposed to give me a ride home but he never showed up. So I didn't have a ride anywhere and Pony and Johnny had already left." she told him, just above a whisper.

"That little shit!" Darry said madly as he stormed out of the kitchen, shouting as he went.

"What were you thinking?" she could here Darry yelling at Dally. "Did you look at her face?" he continued. Maggie blocked it out and took Darry's place at the kitchen. _I should have stayed at the school, _she thought sadly. _It would have saved me a lot of trouble. _

The next day Maggie went to school as usual and was picked up by Steve who took her to the garage to help him work on the cars. After that she went home again and helped Darry with dinner. After dinner they all ended up in the living room watching T.V or playing poker.

Maggie sat sprawled out on Dallas with her head lying in his lap as she watched Micky Mouse do stupid tricks on the T.V and occasionally laughing.

"Can you get that Maggie?" Darry asked suddenly, his face hidden by the paper.

"Get what?" Maggie asked, confused as she sat up and looked around.

"The door." Darry said. Maggie grinned she hadn't even heard anyone knock. She climbed to her feet and walked slowly over to the door, adjusting her shirt as she went. Once she got there she opened the door and then the screen.

She gasped at what was on the other side.

There was Vally. Standing there tears in her eyes. She had once had makeup on that was covering a big bruise on her check but the makeup was being washed away by her tears. Her hair and close were disheveled and she looked like hell.

"Happy birthday, Mags." she said in what was a fake happy voice and a fake smile. Maggie nodded. She had forgotten it was her birthday. She 14 today.

"What are you doing here?" she asked her sister as she leaned against the doorway. She was more concerned at what her sister was doing there then the fact that it was her birthday.

Her sister's smile disappeared and she glared at her sister. "Saying happy birthday to my little sister what does it look like?" she almost shouted.

"Who is it?" Dallas asked as he came up behind her and placed his hand above her head before leaning against her. He stared out at her sister, almost immediately recognizing the resemblance.

"What you want?" he sneered as he looked at Vally.

Her sister sneered at Dallas and then looked at Maggie. "Your dating Dallas Winston? He's four years older then you!" she said.

"5." Dallas answered. "And no. We're not dating."

"She turned 14 today dumb ass!" Vally snarled at him. Dallas looked at Maggie, confused.

"She's right." Maggie told him. "I didn't even remember my own birthday." Dallas grunted at her before turning back to her sister.

"You never answered the question. What do you want?" Dallas asked coldly.

"I want you to come back, Maggie." Vally said in a begging voice.

"HELL NO!" Maggie yelled.

"Watch your mouth!" Darry yelled at her from inside.

"Sorry!" she yelled to him before turning to her sister.

"Do you think with you dating that Soc that I'm going to live with you again?" Maggie asked.

"I'm gonna get ride of him. I promise." Vally said hurriedly.

"Sure you are." Maggie grunted. "I'm sorry Val, but no. I mean look at you you have bruises all over and you still refuse to leave him. HE DOESN'T LOVE YOU IF HE DOES THAT TO YOU!" Maggie yelled at her before moving away from the door and closing it in her face.

**_WOW! I know this chappy is full of drama but I felt like writing dramatic stuff today. PLEASE DON'T MURDER ME! Welp ne way. R&R and let me know lol. There will be more on the sister in chappy's to come! Lol:D! THANKS BUNCHES EVERYONE!_**


	12. Celebration

**_I really didn't have anything better to do this morning so I updated again, lol. I couldn't sleep worth shit with this whole time change thing! It really sucks! Well R&R peeps, tell me what you think even though its really short, lol! LOVE YA ALLS!_**

Maggie slid down the door and pulled her knees to her chest, Dallas standing over her and looking down. Maggie shook with sobs but there were no tears coming. She had just left her only sister out in the cold. She was abandoning her to live with the one person Maggie hated most in the world. She was leaving her sister to fend for herself against his drunken rages. But somehow, Maggie didn't feel all that bad about. But she kicked herself mentally for not feeling bad. It was her only sister and she couldn't even bring herself to cry about the abuse that she was getting? What was wrong with her? There had to be something.

"Mags." Dally said coldly as he dropped down to crouch next to her. "It ain't your fault. Don't cry over her. You didn't do nothin' wrong. Its her own fault. She married that Soc bastard now she had to live with it." Dally told her as he rested a light hand on her still bruised shoulder. She nodded slowly. She knew Dally was completely right. But she still thought she should feel bad.

"Come on." Dallas told her as he extended her a hand and helped her to her feet. "What'd ya want for your birthday?" Dally asked as they were walking back to the living room. Maggie shook her head.

"I don't need anything. Don't waist your money on some stupid birthday present for me." she said gruffly as she pushed her hair out of her eyes again. _Its times to get a hair cut, _she thought.

"I wasn't gonna waist any money." Dally replied with an evil grin on his face. "I was gonna steal something." he informed her. Maggie couldn't help but giggle at the look on his face.

"What's going on?" Darry asked as he set his paper down in his lap.

"Its nothin'." Maggie told him with a reassuring smile on her face.

"Its Maggie's 14 birthday today." Dally informed them all as he lit up a weed. Darry looked at Maggie.

"And you didn't tell us, why?" he asked as he threw his paper to the side.

"I forgot." Maggie confessed as she felt a blush creep to her cheeks. She looked down at her feet quickly not wanting anyone to see her blush. Darry grinned at her.

"How about we celebrate tomorrow then?" he asked. Maggie nodded, that sounded like a fair plan to her.


	13. Birthday Dinner

Maggie dressed slowly the next night. They were planning on going to Jay's to eat a birthday dinner and then come home and have chocolate cake. She didn't know how to act. Being 14 felt like being 13, there just wasn't anything different about her then what it was when she was 13.

She smoothed her wife beater down and covered it up with Darry's old football jacket that he had given her to wear during the winter. It had CURTIS on the back in big white letter along with all the patches he had gotten from all the sports he'd played in high school. She pulled her jeans up a little bit and looked at herself in the mirror. She sure didn't look any different either. She sighed and grabbed her eye liner off of the counter next to her. She applied it slowly making sure it was as perfect as she could get it. Not to dark but not to light. After that she applied a little bit of eyeshadow and she was done.

She put all her makeup back in the bag and put it back in the cabinet over the toilet where it belonged. She opened the door and turned off the light before walking out. She smiled at all the guys as she walked into the living room.

"If Dallas doesn't get here soon we're gonna leave without him!" Darry growled as he sat in his over sized chair. Maggie smirked, typical Dallas, always late when he was needed. She sat down on the couch and leaned on Steve who winked at her and wrapped and arm around her. She leaned her head against his chest and closed her eyes.

About 5 minutes later she opened them again when the door slammed. She looked up to see Dallas making his way towards her. She smiled up at him and straightened up. He just nodded but didn't return the smile.

"Let's go." he said, without even taking a seat. Maggie made a move to get up but Steve pushed her back down. And then Darry began to speak.

"Hang on. We all have something to give Maggie." he said before he got up and disappeared within his room. Her emerged with a small velvet box in his hands. Maggie gave Darry a quizzical look. Anything in a velvet box had to be expensive. How could they all afford it?

Darry walked over to her and handed her the box. She sighed and looked angrily at all of them.

"Why'd y'all go and do a thing like this? Whatever's in this box had to have cost a fortune!" but deep down inside she was happy that they actually cared about her enough to give her something like this.

"Who said we paid for it?" Two Bit asked with a goofy grin on his face. Darry looked at Two Bit and if looks could kill Two Bit would be really really dead!

Darry turned back to Maggie and shook his head. "Pony, Steve, Soda, and me paid for it. Two Bit didn't help out at all." he told her, giving Two Bit another sharp look. Maggie laughed softly before turning her gaze back to the box.

"Well here it goes." she said more to herself then anyone else. She took hold of the box with both hands and lifted the lid slowly.

She gasped at what was inside. It was a shiny, new, heart shaped locket. She ran her fingers over her engraved named, a smile spreading across her face. It reminded her of her old one that her parents had given her for her 6 birthday. She rested the box on her lap and opened the locket with her fingers. Inside was a picture of her mother and father on each side of the heart. She gasped again this time her eyes filling with tears. They were the same exact pictures that had been in her other locket. The one she had lost at Buck's when her and her sister moved there

"How.." she trailed off as she looked at all of them

"Dally found the other one at Buck's in one of the rooms. So we all decided to buy you a new locket but keep the pictures." Darry told her softly. She smiled up at Dally and whipped the tears away from her eyes quickly.

"Well, now." she said, sniffling a little and covering it up with a smile. "This has to be one of the best birthdays I've had for a long time." she told them all. She looked down at the locket again and slowly pulled it out of the box. She took it in her hands and unclasped it and held it up for all of them to see.

"Which one of you wants to do the honers?" she asked, still smiling. They all chuckled and Soda took the locket from her gently and slide it over her shoulders and behind her neck. Steve reached over and pulled her hair up so Soda could close it back up. When it was all done Steve dropped her hair and it spilled into her face.

"Let's get a move on." she told them all she got up swiftly and headed towards the door. The guys let out a series of whoops and hollers and followed her out the door. They all pilled into cars and 10 minutes later they were all at Jay's sitting at a big table drinking soda's or beers and waiting for their food.

"Hey, Pony." Two Bit yelled at Pony from across the table, clearly drunk, "I dare you to kiss Maggie." he slurred as he took another huge gulp from his beer. Pony started to turn beat red and all the older boys turned to glare at him. Two Bit hickuped up and followed it with a fit of laughter.

"Just as a birthday kiss." he slurred a few more minutes later.

"No way." Darry said sternly but was still laughing.

"Two Bit your drunk as hell!" Maggie said while trying not to fall out of her chair.

Darry turned on her sharply and gave her a stern look. "Just because your 14 does not mean you can cuss, young lady." Maggie pulled a face at him and stuck her tounge out.

"How do you like them apples?" Maggie laughed as she opened her mouth with chewed food in it. All the guys just chuckled.

"We like um' just fine, Mags." Soda answered as he took a bite of his own cheeseburger.

2 hours later the gang was back at the Curtis house hanging around and watching t.v. Two Bit was passed out on the couch and Soda and Steve were yet again playing poker but cheating. Pony and Johnny were back in Soda and Pony's room doing god knows what. Which left Darry, Maggie, and Dally the living room.

"Well, I gotta go. I told Buck I'd come to the party tonight." Dally said as he removed his arm from Maggie's shoulders and got to his feet. Maggie followed him to the door and stood by the door. Her feet cold on the porch.

"Thanks for finding those pictures, Dal." she said as she smiled up at him. He nodded down at her but didn't bother to smile.

"Happy birthday Mags." he said before bending down and kissing her lightly on the cheek. Maggie flushed and waved goodbye to him before shutting the door.

That was the best birthday she had ever had.


	14. Get out!

_**Monday**_

Maggie walked slowly down the stairs of the school on Monday afternoon. She was tired from sitting in the school chairs all day and all she wanted to do was get home and sleep. But obviously people had other plans for her.

Just as she had reached the bottom step some way came up to her from behind and drug her behind the school. She squirmed and screamed against whoever's hand it was but nothing seemed to be working.

"Shh." the person said as they put her softly again the school wall and turned to face her. It was Curly.

Maggie stopped squirming and lay limp. Curly still had a few bruises from whatever he had gotten himself into lately.

"What are you doing?" Maggie asked as she looked around for anyone in the gang.

"I dunno." he said with a shrug as he lit up a weed.

"Do you know what will happen to you if you get caught with me?" Maggie asked in a rush as she still looked around. The only thing she was thinking about was getting away from Curly so she wouldn't get in trouble.

"I just wanted to say hi I guess." Curly told her with a smirk as he inhaled on his weed. Maggie looked at him unbelievingly.

"I don't have time for this." she said as she started to walk away from him. He stopped her by putting a hand on her wrist and pulling her back.

"Curly let go." she said threateningly, or as threateningly as she could manage.

"Or what?" he asked wit ha smirk as he drew her closer to him. Maggie squirmed a bit, trying to get out of his grip. Before she knew it his lips were crashing against hers in a lip lock. And she was enjoying. She pushed back with her mouth a little and he pushed her back against the wall. He opened her mouth slightly with his tounge before shoving his tounge into her mouth. She squirmed a little bit more. This was happening to fast for her.

And almost as if someone had heard her thoughts someone crashed into Curly and Curly stumbled away from her. Maggie looked up to see Dallas struggling to regain his balance. Her face flushed and she looked down at her feet.

"Curly?" Dallas sneered once he had gotten his balance. Dally turned towards Maggie and anger took over his eyes.

"Curly you little son of a bitch!" he yelled as he took Curly by the throat and thrust him against the wall. "What did I tell you the last time you tried to make moved on her? HUH?" he yelled. Maggie stood there for a moment, in shock. She couldn't believe she was getting caught again. Except this time she was going to get punished for something she had no control over.

Before she knew it Dally had dropped Curly and was making his way towards Maggie. He grabbed her upper arm harshly and started to drag her away from the school. Maggie struggled a little bit, trying to loosen his grip, but it was no use.

Once they reached the car Dally threw her in the passenger side and then jumped into the driver's side. He started the car with a roar and then sped away, leaving Maggie with tears in her eyes holding her arm.

"Its not what it looked like!" Maggie pleaded with him. Dally grunted and sped up the car. "He just grabbed me I couldn't do anything!" she said more loudly, a whine in her voice. Dally snapped his head in her direction.

"I know how that works, Maggie. You wanted it and you know it." he said in a dangerous low voice. "You got it and now your going to have to deal with it."

"I didn't mean anything by it, Dallas. I would have stopped him if I could. Do you thing some small sick 13 year olds going to stop some big hood thats 3 years older then me? Not likely."

"JUST SHUT UP, MAGGIE!" Dallas snapped at her and slammed his foot on the break. Maggie went flying forward and hit her shoulder on the dash board. She screamed out in pain but quickly bit down on her lip. "I don't want to hear your excuses. Get out and walk home." he told her and turned away from her. Maggie gathered her books in her good arm and got out of the car, still biting down on her lip from the pain.

She slammed the door behind her and watched as Dallas sped off.


	15. Important Note

**_Important Note_**

This is a poll ok. I know its not allowed (or i don't think it is) but I need your guys' help. Do you guys want a little romance in this story or do you want it to just stay with Maggie and the guys? Because I'm kind of bending towards romance but you know its really what ever you guys think, so let me know. And just for the record if you guys choose romance for this then I don't think I will want it to be with a member of the gang. It might be a Soc or someone from Tim's outfit or a middle classer or another greaser or something. So please review and let me know. I would really appreciate your guys' help on this one:D:D:D:D Love you all!


	16. Amy and Adam

**_AUTHOR'S NOTE_**

**_I love reviewers, they are SOO awesome,lol. Which means you guys are all awesome. I read all of your reviews and found all of them VERY helpful. I'm really glad I got some feed back from you guys on this one because it helped a lot! So here is the new chappy, I hope you like it alot. THERE IS ANOTHER AUTHOR'S NOTE AT THE BOTTOM!_**

Maggie walked towards the DX, her book bag on her good shoulder and her bad shoulder slumped down. It was killing her and she could barely hide the pain. She couldn't help but notice that it was sticking out more then it should. Like it wasn't in place or something.

She could hear the radio in the garage of the DX station blaring some Elvis Presley. She hummed along with the song, she knew every word. Elvis was all the guys ever listened to. She looked down at her feet as she walked along. She was totally lost about her situation. She never knew that have one little fling with a guy could get her in so much trouble. Did she really do anything wrong to begin with? But then again she had told Dally she was going to mess with Curly again, but the second time hadn't been her fault either. Curly had just pulled her into it. She had no control-

Maggie stopped suddenly at the sound of a loud car horn and her head jerked up to see the car. It was a black T-Bird with tinted windows so she couldn't see the driver. She knew it wasn't a soc by the look of the car, though. She looked towards the driver and slammed her hand on the car hood.

"I'm walking here!" she yelled at whoever it was. For some reason all her anger was just boiling out at that moment and seemed like the best way to take it out. Her head turned to the DX at the sound of laughter and found that Soda and Steve were standing outside the garage, both with red rags in their hands, laughing at what she had just done. She rolled her eyes at them and turned her attention back to the car just as the driver was stepping out. She cursed mentally to herself when Tim Shepard stepped out of the car, his tall muscular body stretching to his full height when he stepped out. He stood at least a foot taller then her and was about twice her size. She retrained some more curse words and turned to look at him.

"That's my car your beating on!" he said angrily as he pointed his car hood, his eyes glinting with anger.

"And thats my body you almost ran over!" Maggie yelled back and pointed herself. Tim waited a couple of seconds before showing a cold smirk, making his scars around his mouth visible.

"If your..body...wouldn't have been walking in the middle of the street so slowly, I wouldn't of had to almost run you over." he told her, the smirk disappearing from his face as fast as it had come. Maggie turned around, just trying to avoid Tim's gaze, and found Steve and Soda still outside, looking at her and Tim with alert.

"Look, I'm sorry alright," she started to tell him as she turned around again and met his eyes, "I've got a lot of shit on my mind and I'm in a lot of pain right now." she touched her shoulder softly, remembering what had happened with Dally not an hour ago.

He chuckled coldly, "You don't strick me as the fighting type."

"Well, I'm not. I'm more of the homeless type." she snapped, her anger coming back suddenly. She shook her head at herself. She could be so stupid at times. "Sorry." she said again. "But, no I'm usually not. This time it wasn't my fault." she gritted her teeth and thought of Curly and what Dally would be doing to him this time.

She looked up at Tim and watched as he shook his head.

"You need a ride some where?" he asked as he pointed to her book bag. She nodded but stopped midway to look at Steve and Soda.

"Let me just tell the guys." she said hesitantly as she dropped her back and walked over to the them, being careful to watch for cars!

"I'm gonna catch a ride home to do my homework." she told them both who looked at her like she was insane.

"I know how to handle myself." she snapped at them both, she was feeling the urge to hold her shoulder but she didn't want Soda and Steve to know that she was hurt, let alone that Dally had _accidentally _done it to her.

"Fine, Maggie. But be careful." Steve said before kissing her lightly on the cheek and going back to the garage. Soda nodded to her and told her the same thing before going back in, too. She walked back to Tim's car and picked up her book bag before sliding into the passenger side.

Tim started the car and and started speeding off in the direction of the Curtis'.

"Darry's, right?" he asked her as he swung the car around a corner. Maggie smirked at the speed (she was used to it from Steve) and nodded her head.

Within a couple of minutes Maggie was sitting in Tim's car in front of the house. She turned to him and nodded her head.

"Thanks." she told him as she picked up her book bag and got out of the car.

"Hey, Maggie." he yelled after her. Maggie turned back her long hair swinging in front of her face.

"Yeah?" she asked as she leaned into the window.

"You might want Darry to get a look at your shoulder." he told and motioned to her bad shoulder with his head.

"How'd you know?" she asked with a smirk.

"Its slumped over more then the other. I know how to tell these things." Maggie nodded and smirked some more before pulling her head out of the window and waving to him as he left. She smiled to herself as she made her way up to the house. When she walked in she found Pony and Johnny doing homework in the living room on the floor.

"Hey, guys." she said as she walked in and threw her book bag on the couch next to them. "Hey, Pony, can you help me with Algebra? I really can't get these problems down."

A couple hours later Maggie was sitting at the dinner table with the whole gang eating Darry's famous fried chicken. She kept her on eyes on the food because Dallas was at the table. She really didn't want to talk to him right then.

"I'm walking over to the Nightly Double tonight, ya'll wanna come?" Dallas asked as he looked around the table.

"Me, Johnny, and Mags will come!" Pony said before anyone else could answer.

"No-" Maggie started to say but was kicked under the table by Johnny. Maggie hissed in pain and glared at Johnny at the same time but didn't object anymore.

"Me and Soda got dates." Steve said as he shoveled potatoes in his mouth.

"Its Soda and I, dip shit, and that Evie girls a slut!" Maggie blurted out and smirked evilly.

"HEY, watch your mouth!" Darry and Dally yelled at the same time while Steve glared at her.

"When did you become the father type?" she murmured in Dally's direction before looking back down at her food.

Once she had finished and put her plate in the sink she was hurried out the door by Dallas. They walked all together in the cold air and none of them talked very much until they were about ¾th of the way to the Nightly Double.

"What are we seeing?" Pony asked as he kicked a rock down the street.

"Some beach movie." Dallas told them as he walked on, smoking a weed. Maggie watched all the cars going by one by one, some greasers some socs. They were all most likely going to see the same movie that they were going to see which meant that the Nightly Double was going to PACKED when they got there.

Maggie snuck in after all the rest of them and followed them to some seats in the middle. She slumped down in the seats, letting the other three know that she really didn't want to be there. She closed her eyes and leaned her head against the back of the seat, listening to all the different sounds of people talking and laughing. After about 20 minutes Maggie couldn't stand to sit there and listen to the stupid beach movie anymore. She left slowly without telling any of the guys where she was going. She walked passed the concession stand until she got to the bathrooms. She sighed heavily and leaned up against the wall, crossing her arms over her chest. After a couple of minutes she realized the weird sounds coming from inside the girls bathroom. Like whimpers of some sort. She pushed herself away from the wall and walked into the bathroom. She looked around but didn't see anything but stalls. After a couple of seconds she decided to check in the stalls. She moved down the row, pushing each stall door open softly until she came to the last one. She could here the sobs more clearly. She pushed the door open softly and almost gasped.

A girl about her age was curled up on the cold concrete floor next to the toilet. Her hair was in a messy pony tail and loose strands were sticking to her wet cheeks. The girl looked up at Maggie as she slowly knelt down next to her. Maggie could tell she was defiantly a greaser from the way her clothes looked. Maggie reached up slowly and brushed her bangs out of her hair to reveal a black eye. The girl looked up at her before hastily reaching up and brushing away the tears.

"Amy!" Maggie could hear someone calling the the distance. "AMY!" the girl next to Maggie gasped and tried to get up. Maggie pushed her back down softly and gave her a reassuring look before backing out and closing the door to the bathroom, knowing full well what she was going to do.

"Amy." someone called again, this time from the bathroom door. Maggie turned around to see who it was.

It was a guy, about 6'0. Her had dirty blond hair that feel to his ears a white shirt on, his jeans were black and turd rolled (A/N: The thing you do when you roll up the end of your pants till it hits your ankles). Maggie walked toward him a few steps before stopping so she could get a better look. His skin was tanned and made his warm blue eyes look stunning.

"Have you seen a girl?" he asked hesitating to enter. "She's about your age, brown hair in a pony tail." he explained to her, finally stepping in.

"What's it to ya?" Maggie asked being cautious as she pulled a Two Bit and cocked her eye brow.

He glared at her for a moment before answering, "She's my cousin, she just moved here and she took off." he told her, his looking honest. Maggie stared at him for a moment before pointing to the last stall and stepping out of his way. There wasn't much she could do anyway. It didn't look like he was lieing. She turned around and watched as he walked to the last stall and softly swung the door open, catching it before it hit the other side of the stall. The guy sighed and dropped down to a kneel as he looked at his supposed cousin.

"I told you I'd be right back." he told her as he reached out a hand. Maggie couldn't see what he did but she suspected her was touching her cheek or whipping her tears away.

"I know." the girl said, Maggie was surprised at the sound of her voice. "I just needed...time." she said again and Maggie heard her shift in the stall. "Its not every day that we move to a new place you know. These people are outrageous, too. Calling us greasers" the girl kept talking. Maggie watched as the guy smiled at her and stood up.

"I know. We'll get used to it after a while. We always do." he told her as he helped her up to her feet.

"Actually you never do get used to it." Maggie mumbled as she looked down at the floor.

"What?" the guy asked as he walked a couple steps towards her. Maggie looked up at him quickly. She thought moment before answering.

"You never do get used to being called a greaser. Trust me I know." she told him, turning around before she could say anymore about the issue. She walked towards the door quickly, wanting to give this guy and his cousin some privacy.

"Hey, wait." she heard the girl call from the bathroom. Maggie stopped and spun around.

"I'm Amy." she told Maggie, and smiled a little. "Thanks for helping me. Even though I really didn't need it." Maggie nodded slowly as she looked at her.

"I'm Maggie. Lotion helps with the black eyes by the way. Makes it easier to cover up with makeup (A/N: I don't know if this is true I just made it up, lol)." the girl reached up and touched her eye before smiling back at Maggie.

"My cousin's Adam by the way." Amy said as she hit her cousin playfully on the shoulder. Adam nodded to her but didn't smile, probably mad about Maggie thinking that Adam was the one trying to abuse Amy.

"Maggie! MAGGIE!" Maggie could hear Dallas yelling for her and his voice was getting closer.

"I'm being called." Maggie told them as she turned around. "See ya around." she called over her shoulder as she walked out the bathroom and ran smack into Dallas.

"What are you doing near the girls bathroom?" she asked him, smirking evilly at him.

"Haha." he mocked as he fixed his jacket. Maggie turned around just in time to see Amy and Adam leave the bathroom, Adam's arm protectively thrown over her shoulders.

"Whose that?" Dallas asked, a hint of madness in his voice as he looked towards the 2 new greasers.

"Adam and Amy. Cousins. Both greasers by the way, so don't pick on them." Maggie warned. Dallas snarled.

"Just cause there grease doesn't mean I can't pick on them." he snapped back at her.

**_AUTHOR'S NOTE_**

**_YAY! I updated, lol. And its an actual chapter this time. So I introduced 2 new characters and I also started a little with Tim Shepard which means obviously that I haven't decided which way I want to go with this. I just can't decided. So if you guys would be so kind let me know which one you think sounds better, ok? Adam or Tim. Or someone else, maybe? LET ME KNOW! LOVE YOU ALL!_**


	17. Conflict Arises

**_THANK YOU!_**

**_To you all my reviewers, you guys have helped me a lot in the ditection of this story. This one's to you guys! All of you:D:D LOVE YOU ALL_**

Maggie walked down the steps of the school in the pouring rain. She had no way of getting home and she knew she was going to get her head beat in for getting a detention. She walked quickly her books tucked under her jacket to keep them from getting wet. She jumped a little at the sound of thunder and walked even faster. At the same time she was wondering how winter had passed so quickly and was already getting replaced by Spring.

It seemed unbelievable. But then again after everything that had happened it still seemed totally believable. She wondered about how it would have been like if Dallas hadn't of found her. If she would have survived the winter or if Jim would have still had her locked away in the basement. She looked up again, putting all her thoughts towards finding some place dry to get so she could phone Darry and have him pick her up. She could talk to him about her detention on the way home, that way he might not be so mad if he was on his own instead of surrounded by rowdy teenagers.

Maggie ran across the street to the DX where she thought she could find some dry clothes of Steve's and Soda's. She ran up and banged on the locked glass door, trying to get their attention. She stopped after a while and ran around to the garage door.

"Soda, Steve!" she yelled as she looked into the garage window. All the lights we're out and it didn't look like their was anyone inside. "Great!" she yelled as she punched the door one last time before running off. She walked down the street heading towards the street that the house was on. She was just going to have to walk all the way there and deal with what ever Darry threw at her. She turned around sharply at the sound of a car horn and looked to see Tim's black car speeding up towards her. She jumped out of the way as his car came to a screeching halt right next to her.

"Get in." he told her coldly as he kept his eyes on the road. Maggie obliged and pulled the car door open and hopped in, shivering the whole time. She sighed heavily and pulled it closed again before Tim sped off.

She shivered, her whole body shaking.

"Hey, T-Tim," she stuttered in between teeth chatters, "you mind if I borrow some of your Angela's clothes? Larry's gonna beat my head in already and if I come hope wet he'll surely give it to me 2 times worse." Tim chuckled and made a sharp turn to the left, heading towards his house. Maggie took that as a yes and hugged her arms to her body as she waited for them to arrive.

A couple of minutes later Tim stopped in front of his house and they both climbed out and headed up to his house.

"Its messy." he told her as he opened the door. "Just had a party last night."

Maggie only nodded, she had expected that much from him. Maggie followed Tim up the stairs and turned right to Angela's room while Tim turned left to his room. She went strait to Angela's closet and started looking through her clothes. All of Angela's clothes were tight mini skirts and slutty tank tops that Maggie new she couldn't wear.

"Tim!" she called as she looked some more threw Angela's things. She waited until she heard Tim's footsteps in the room before she turned around. "Umm," she turned beat red for the thought just being in her head, "can I borrow a pair of your jeans instead?" she asked finally. Tim looked at her for a minute, standing there with his arms down at his sides. Maggie slowly let her eyes drift down his body, noticing that he had discarded his shirt, letting his abs show. He had a perfect 6 pack and it made Maggie shudder just thinking about it. She let her eyes flow further down until they reached his legs that were wrapped perfectly in a pair of dark blue jeans that weren't tight but weren't too loose either. They hugged his butt just right but he still had to wear a belt with them. She traced her eyes down even more and looked at his shoes. A big pair of steel-toe boots that were black and a little bit rugged (A/N: Ladies, we all know what big feet mean, LOL!).

She snapped her eyes back up when she stopped day dreaming and looked at his face, her own face turning a deep red color again. Tim motioned with his hand for her to follow him before turning around and heading down the hall to his room. Maggie followed her face still red and her heart beating quickly. She hand never felt such a strong physical attraction before.

She stepped into Tim's messy room. The walls were white but had some huge dents the size of fists. The carpet was stained and had burns from cigarettes and clothes were spread all over the place. Tim walked slowly over to a messy dresser and open the middle draw and rummaged around for a couple of minutes. He pulled out a long pair of blue jeans that had some holes in the knees. He threw them to her and she caught them one handed before holding them up to her legs. They were about 3 inches longer then her legs all together and the holes in the knees went down to her shines. She giggled a little bit at the thought of what she would look like in them before looking back up at Tim.

"Thanks." she said quietly before turning around and going back to Angela's room. She went back to the closet and rummaged some more before deciding on a skimpy little black tank top. It was actually the least skimpiest shirt that was in Angela's closet. She closed Angela's door and threw the clothes on the bed before stripping down. She slid the jeans over he thighs and button them only to have them fall back down a little bit. The only thing keeping them up were her bony hips. The jeans covered up every inch of her feet and hide them from sight. She slide the shirt on next, feeling it as it hugged to her flat stomach and arms. She straitened it up and bit so her bra straps weren't showing. She slid her boots back on and walked over to the mirror to look at herself. She smiled a little bit, she actually looked hot in baggy jeans and a tight tank top.

She folded her wet clothes back up and opened the door back up. She dropped her clothes and jumped a bit when she found Curly waiting on the other side. She nodded to him and picked up her clothes before trying to move around him but he blocked her way and smirked.

"Didn't expect to see you here." he said as he slowly walked towards her, Maggie backed up slowly but kept her eyes on Curly.

"Well, I am." she told him quietly and made another attempt to move around him. He blocked her way again and grabbed her around the waist, pulling her to him. She struggled a bit and dropped her clothes.

"Look, Curly. It was just a one time thing. You got me in a lot of trouble." she tried to reason with him. He chuckled and pulled her closer.

"Well, lets make it into something thats longer than a one time thing."

Maggie snarled at him and thought about all the trouble she went through with Dallas and Darry and the rest of the gang. Her anger built up inside of her as she thought of the times when Dallas hurt her because of Curly. She looked into his cold blue eyes before snapped her fist up and smashing his nose in. He let go of her suddenly and Maggie stumbled back as she watched his hand fly up to his nose. Unfortunately Maggie hadn't broken it.

"Bitch!" he screamed. "You almost broke my fucking nose!" Maggie smiled cruelly and listened as she heard steps thunder up the stairs and Tim appear at the door. He looked over at Curly and shook his head a little, his almost softening for a second before they snapped to Maggie and turned cold again. She shrugged and snarled again before picking up her clothes and shoving past them both. She thundered down the stairs and picked her books up from the table.

"What's going on between you and my brother?" Tim's voice floated down the stairs, followed by his heavy footsteps.

"Nothing. It was a one time thing." Maggie snapped at him as she turned around. Her face was hard as stone and anger still pulsed through her. "I had to go through a lot of shit cause I decided to go on _one _date with him." she said more to herself and growled.

She felt Tim's cold stare on her and looked at him suddenly. There eyes met for an instant before his eyes started to travel down her body just as hers had done to him 20 minutes ago. They slowly went over her torso, lingering on her breasts and flowing down to her flat stomach that was being hugged by the tank top. Then they slowly traveled over her legs from her hips to her thighs and downward to her boots.

She blushed a little as he eyes traveled back up again and traced over her arms and her neck before resting on her face again. She turned away from him and reached for her still wet coat and shivered. She could still feel his gaze on her as her back faced him, probably checking out her butt.

She looked back out of the corner of her eye and watched as he slowly stepped toward her, his eyes still tracing over her and his feet making small creaking sounds on the floor. She took in a shaky breath as she looked over his still bare chest and stomach and then his arms. She slowly let it out and turned her gaze back to the wall.

She listened as she footsteps came even closer until she could feel his hot breath on her neck. She shivered a little bit and waited not knowing what to expect.

Tim reached his hand up slowly and ran it down her smooth arm and then back up. She shivered at his touch and her knees felt weak. She turned her head towards him a little bit and looked at him out of the corner of his eyes. He quickly drew away and walked back upstairs. Maggie sighed and relaxed, her knees still weak. She had never felt so drawn to anyone before. She pulled her cold coat over her shoulders and put her books back under her coat. She had come here for nothing but at least she had gotten to interact with Tim the way she did. She was still going to have to walk home though.

Just as she had reached the door and was starting to open it Tim came back down the stairs and walked up right behind her. She opened the door and stepped onto their creaking wood porch and waited for him to close the door. She followed him out to the car, her hair already getting soaked. She leaped inside yet again as he speed off towards her house. They both set in silence as they drove closer and closer to the Curtis'. As soon as they got there Maggie jumped out of the car and closed the door without a word, happy to get out of the car. After what had happened at his house she didn't know how to act around him. She walked quickly up the walk and to the porch and inside and found the whole gang their minus Darry.

"Where ya been?" Dally asked, not looking up for his poker gang with Steve and Soda.

"I had a detention." Maggie answered truthfully as she shivered. Dally looked up at her sharply about to ask her why she got one when he looked at her clothes and snarled.

"Where the hell did you get those clothes?" he snapped as he threw his cards down and stood up.

"I borrowed them from a friend." Maggie lied as she threw her books on the couch next to Johnny.

"And what friend would that be?" Dally came closer to her, a snarl still on his face.

"Angela Shepard." Dally's face turned even more sour if it was even possible and he rushed towards her and got in her face.

"Who gave you a ride there?" he asked harshly. Maggie looked down at the ground, she had no idea what to tell him. "What gave you a ride there?" he grabbed her arm and shook her a little bit.

"Tim." she said quietly and looked up at Dallas quickly.

"Ok." Dallas said, suddenly calm. Maggie looked up at him confused. "Just wanted to make sure you weren't screwing around with Curly again." Dallas said as he turned back to his poker game.

"I don't 'screw' around with anyone, Dally!" Maggie yelled angrily. "I don't take after you!" she added harshly.

Dallas looked at her coldly before smirking. "You so sure about that?" he asked finally. All eyes turned to Dally and Steve glared daggers at him.

**_Wow! Conflict arises, huh? Lol. And don't worry people you haven't seen the last of Adam and Amy they will be in the next chapter! Tell me what you guys think. Am I making Dally to harsh? Should I make him more carefree over these issues?_**


	18. Night Off

**_VERY IMPORTANT NOTE AT BOTTOM!_**

Maggie slumped down at the couch, still glaring at Dallas after what he had said. She was in no way like him. She didn't use men for one night and then throw them away. She wasn't cold hearted. She cared about more people than just herself. She wasn't like him at all! She was totally different, or at least thats what she tried to convince herself.

She crossed her arms over her chest and looked a the T.V, Mickey Mouse of course. She sighed heavily and leaned against Johnny's shoulder and closed her eyes. She could feel her body getting more and more limp, more and more tired.

Maggie woke up later and found her self on the couch, curled up in a ball. She leaned up slowly and stretched. Her neck was cramping from the awkward position. She looked down at her feet to find Johnny curled up on his end. She smiled a little and looked around at the rest of the room. Steve was spread out across the floor which means his dad had to have kicked him out again. She got up slowly trying not to make any loud noises that would wake either of them. She walked tiny steps, her feet making soft padding sounds on the floor. Just as she had passed Steve he reached up and grabbed her around the waist, pulling her down next to him. She laughed a little and got situated next to him, the water could wait. He sighed happily and wrapped an arm around her stomach before closing his eyes again. She did the the same smiling a little as she did.

She woke up a while later, the sun shinning in through the curtains. She looked over to see Steve still beside her but Johnny had gone either to the kitchen or back home to get some clothes. She slowly lifted Steve's arm and slid out from underneath him. She got to her feet and followed the sweet smell of food and found herself in the kitchen standing next to Darry.

"Morning." she told him as she walked over and slumped down in the chair. Maggie turned a little red when she realized she still hadn't told him about the detention. Her heart started to pound and she didn't know whether or not to wait for him to say something or to start the conversation on her own.

"So..." he started and paused as he put the eggs into a dish, "what's this detention about?" he asked calmly. Maggie looked away from him.

"I smarted off to a teacher." she told him truthfully and looked back into his eyes.

"Did you learn your lesson?" he asked as he set them the eggs on the table.

"Yes." Maggie said, turning more towards him as he moved. For some reason Darry was being extremely nice and it kind of scared her. She watched him with her eyes as he moved here and there and fixed things for breakfast.

"Just...don't let it happen again." he sighed heavily and gave her a stern look. Maggie gave him a big smile and shook her head wildly. She was really happy that Darry was letting this slide. She looked up when she heard a huge yawn and saw Steve stretching shirtless and hair wet. She stared at him for a couple of seconds before ripping her eyes away and realizing that that was just wrong. Steve was like her big brother!

"When did you take a shower?" Maggie asked as he sat down next to her.

"While Darry was in here talking to you. How's your arm?" he changed the subject quickly, referring to where Dallas had grabbed her last night.

"Which one?" she joked even though she knew full well which arm he meant but she still had that nasty bruise on her shoulder from the car.

"What'd ya mean which one?" Steve snarled and scooted closer to her. Maggie turned red quickly and looked down.

"I was just joking." she tried to cover up herself.

"Yeah, sure!" Steve snapped at her as he tilted her chin up to look at her.

"What'd you mean?" he asked her again, staring her strait in the eyes.

"I mean I have more than one bruise is all." she tried to lie again and looked away from him quickly.

"Did Dallas give you it to?" Steve asked, disgust written all over his face.

"Wait a second!" Darry cut in angerily. "What bruises? Why don't I know about Dallas giving you a bruise?"

Maggie sighed and turned to Darry. "Its nothing Darry. Dallas was just a little mad last night when he found out I had a detention."

"A little!" Steve snorted sarcastically and pulled her sleeve up revealing the bruise that Dallas had given her last night and the bottom of the bruise on her shoulder. Steve looked up at her in confusion before carefully pulling it the rest of the way up to reveal the whole thing. Steve and Darry hissed in unison and Darry squatted down beside her to get a better look.

"What happened?" Darry asked in awe as he looked at it some more.

"Dallas got mad at me the other day and slammed on his breaks. I wasn't wearing my seat belt so I went flying up and my shoulder hit the dash board." she told them like it was no big deal.

"Why didn't you tell anyone?" Steve asked her.

"Cause I didn't want to get him in trouble. I was the one who mad him angry. I deserved it." she added. Darry looked up at her angrily, as did Steve.

"You didn't deserve this no matter what you do!" Darry snapped and walked out of the dinning room. He returned a few minutes later with some lotion and gave it to Steve.

"Rubbed that on there, maybe it will help with the color or something." Darry shrugged before walking back over to the kitchen and starting breakfast up again. Steve pulled her sleeve up more before setting the bottle down and getting some onto his hands.

"Cold!" Maggie whined as she put it carefully on her shoulder.

"What happened?" Soda's voice floated in from the doorway. Steve and Maggie looked up at him.

Just as Steve was about to say something Maggie cut him off, "Long story." she sighed before turning back to Steve. She sat there patiently as he finished putting it on her arm and then put it away. They all sat down at the table and were later joined by Johnny and Pony before they started eating.

"I need your help at the garage today, Maggie." Steve said after breakfast as he waited for Soda.

"Sure." Maggie said as she smiled and hopped up. "Where's your extra shirt?"

"Its in Soda's closet." Steve told her as he sat down in the spot where she was just at. She nodded and walked to Pony and Soda's room where she found Steve's old DX shirt. She pulled it off the hanger and slipped it on over her white tee shirt. She looked at her self in the mirror. The shirt was too big for her of course and had DX sewed on top of her left breast. On the back of the shirt it had Randle written in big bold and cursive letters. Maggie laughed at the thought of her being Steve's sister. She moved back into the living room where she picked up Soda's hat and placed it on top of her own head, pulling her pony tail through the whole in the back and straiting it down on her head. She nodded towards Steve and joined him on the couch waiting for Soda.

She watched in amusement as Soda hopped around looking for his shoes and his clothes. It took him about 20 minutes before he found them and Soda, Steve, and Maggie could leave. Once they got there Steve and Soda got a lecture from the boss man and Maggie just stood there in laughed.

"You in the garage with me, Mags." Steve told her as she pulled on her hat a little. She growled at him playfully and straitened her hat before following him to the garage.

Maggie worked there for the rest of the day. About 2 hours after lunch Steve and her sat under a car giving it an oil change when the bell rang in the front.

"Can you get that, Mags?" Steve asked her as he fiddled around. "Soda's filling up a car." he told her when he sensed she really didn't want to do it. She sighed and nodded her head before rolling out from the under the car and grabbing a rag and whipping her hands. She walked slowly up to the front and behind the counter, her shoulders slumped down. She looked up finally to see Adam and Amy with a couple of sodas in their hands.

"Never expected to see you guys anytime soon." she told them with a small smile as she rung them up and took there money.

"Same goes for you." Adam answered as he smiled back at her.

"How's that eye?" she asked towards Amy as she looked at her eye.

"Much better." Amy giggled. "Can't believe I hadn't thought of that one myself!" Maggie laughed and leaned against the counter.

"How ya guys been?" she asked them after a moment of silent.

"Good." they both answered at the same time. Maggie smiled at them both, they were almost like twins except for the age difference.

"We're going to the Nightly Double tonight you wanna come?" Amy asked suddenly as she leaned against the counter. Adam glared at his sister before turning to Maggie and smiling.

"Sure, I'll go." Maggie said as she looked from Adam to Amy, they both had this michivious glint in their eyes.

"Great." Adam said as he smiled warmly and his deep brown eyes glittered. Maggie stood almost transfixed as she looked at him. She liked him; she didn't know why but something about him made her like him. Not just a physical attraction like she had had with Tim but one of those real ones that you really feel emotionally instead of physically.

"Umm, how about we just meet here and we'll all walk together? Save us the time of trying to find your house." Maggie nodded in agreement.

"What time?" she asked before they could leave.

"7:00 sound good?" Maggie nodded again and smiled as they both left.

"Who was that?" Steve yelled from under the car as she went back in the garage.

"Some new friends of mine that just moved in town." she told him as she wheeled back under the car.

_**6:00 That Night**_

Maggie rushed around the room trying to find something to wear that was right for the weather but still looked good. She couldn't find _anything _that she felt like wearing. She didn't even know why she was making such a fuss about it. For some odd reason she felt compelled to look good for Adam and Amy...or maybe just Adam. She finally pulled out a pair of jeans at the bottom of the drawer that Soda had let her put her clothes in. They were faded and ripped at the jeans but they hugged her in all the right places and made her butt look _great! _She pulled them and button them before moving on to her bag to find a shirt. She searched through it frantically, not finding anything. Finally she came across one particular shirt. It wasn't really a shirt per say but a tank top. It was white and was a little frayed at the bottom but looked great anyway. She remembered it now. It had been her sisters when she went on her first date with Jim. Then her sister gave it to her when she went on her very first date with some dorky middle-classer that she had actually hated. She smiled a little as she pulled it on and looked at herself in the mirror. It covered up her flat stomach perfectly and snugged her in her chest area a little big. She put her fingers to her lips as she thought of something to cover it up with.

"Think, think, _think!_" she mumbled to herself as she paced around Soda and Pony's room. She thought for a couple of minutes like that before finally jumping up and down when she had it. She ran to Darry's room and searched through the very back side of his closet. She had seen it in here one day when she was looking for something.

"Yes!" she yelled as she pulled it out of the closet and fell on her butt. "Ow." she mumbled as she rubbed her butt for a minute before remembering the shirt. She put it up in front of her to look at it. It was a little wrinkly and a little old but it looked perfect. She smirked and slid it on before running back to Soda's room and looking in the mirror. She looked great, not to girlish, but not to boyish. She had on Darry's old brown leather jacket from when he was in Tulsa High. He had grown out of it of course because of his muscles but it fit her perfectly. It was big but not too big, just how she liked it. She rubbed the dust off of the collar and pulled hear hair over the top of the jacket. She moved over to Soda's dresser where she had temporarily laid her makeup and started putting on her foundation. When she was finished she put it down and picked up the little bottle of perfume Two Bit had stolen for her and sprayed a little on. She sighed heavily as the butterflies built up in her stomach.

She couldn't figure it out. Why was she feeling this way? It just didn't make since. She didn't like Adam in that way. Or at least she didn't think so.

She looked up at the wall to see it was already 6:30. She walked slowly into the living room and waited for Darry to look at her from behind his paper. She cleared her throat rudely when he never did. He rustled his paper a little bit and then finally looked down. He stared at her for a few seconds before putting the paper in his lap.

"Where'd you find that?" he asked as she looked at his old jacket.

"In the back of your closet." Maggie told him as she spun around to give him a better look.

"Looks good on you." he said with a grin before returning to his paper.

"Well, I'm leaving, Darry." she yelled to him as she walked to the door.

"Be careful! And I mean it!" he yelled back sternly. Maggie walked out the door, being sure not to slam it. It was going to take her about 20 minutes to get to the DX in the dark, especially since Socs would be out and drunk greasers like Two Bit would be behind the wheel. She looked both ways before crossing the road, just a precaution and started walking towards the DX.

About 15 minutes later and 2 minutes till 7:00, Maggie arrived at the DX where she found Adam and Amy patiently waiting for her. She smiled at them both as she walked up.

"You look good." Maggie told Amy as she looked at her outfit.

"You do, too." Adam said before Amy could answer. Amy looked at her brother and then back at Maggie before smirking and walking ahead.

"Hey!" Maggie yelled after her as she watched Amy walk across the street with out listening. Maggie heard the tired before she saw the red Mustang heading towards Amy. She ran towards Amy hoping to make it in time. Just as the red Mustang was about 10 feet away from Amy Maggie swept her out of the way, pushing her to the ground.

"You have to watch where your going in this place!" Maggie snapped at her as she got to her feet angrily and brushed off her jeans and jacket. She looked over towards Amy who was also on her feet and brushing the dirt and grass off of her.

"I'm sorry!" Amy snapped back. "I just thought I'd give you and my brother a little privacy!"

"Well," Maggie said, a little calmer now, "we really don't need it."

"You guys ok?" Adam asked as he jogged up to them both.

They both nodded at him, Maggie a little out of breath.

"Let's get going or we'll be late." Maggie said with a small smile as they all started walking.

About 10 minutes later they all ended up at the Nightly Double in the seats. Maggie had shown them both the way to sneak in to a movie so they wouldn't have to pay. Dallas style.

"You guys wants something?" Adam asked as he stood up and got ready to go to the concession stand.

"POPCORN!" Maggie and Amy screamed together and laughed wildly. Adam laughed at them and left to get it.

"I thought I heard you." a familiar voice said from behind her. She looked up to see Dallas, Pony, and Johnny right behind her. All three of them jumped the seats, Dallas on the end followed by Pony and then Johnny. She smiled at them all before turning to Amy.

"Amy," she started, "this is Pony, Johnny, and Dally." she introduced them and pointed to each one. "Guys this is Amy."

"We know." Dallas said as he looked around to see who was at the Nightly Double.

"Course you know." Maggie mumbled bitterly.

"Who are they?" she heard Adam asked as he walked up beside Amy and handing them both their popcorn.

"Adam this is Pony, Johnny, and Dallas. Guys this is Adam." Maggie said again before eating a little popcorn. Maggie focused the rest of the time on the movie try to watch as much of it as she could. She couldn't believe she had run into Dallas when this was supposed to be her one night off! She looked up when she heard some new voices, voices she didn't recognize.

"Are you sure you wanna do this?" a Socy girl with short black hair asked. She looked over at the other one, a red head. She knew that one. That one was Cherry Valance.

"I came here to see a movie and I'm gonna see a movie!" Cherry snapped at the black headed girl angerily before crossing her arms over her chest and watching the movie.

"I'm freezing out here!" Pony mumbled to all of us. I smirked at him and chewed on a popcorn carnal.

"Why didn't you bring a coat, stupid?" Dallas asked as he tried to light up a wee. "Even Maggie was smart enough to wear a coat!" Dallas added, still trying to light his weed. He smirked a little as he leaned forward and struck up his match on the chair next to Cherry and then getting in her face. She looked at him but he turned away and sat back.

Maggie threw popcorn at him angrily. Why couldn't she just have a night off?

"Some cute red head." Dallas said to Pony, making sure that Cherry could see. Maggie rolled her eyes and started watching the movie some more, tunning the rest of them out until she felt something hit her forehead. She turned to see Amy smirking wildly at her brother and Adam chuckling.

"That's _not _funny!" Maggie snapped, barely able to keep a smile off her face. Adam and Amy kept smirking at her until she threw a couple of pieces of popcorn at her.

"HERE, THAT'LL COOL YOU OFF GREASER!" Maggie looked up suddenly at the sound of Cherry yelling. She turned around to see Dallas soaking wet with Soda and Cherry fuming. Maggie stifled a laugh and turned to Adam and Amy.

"Let's get out of here." Maggie told them both as she got up and walked down the row, leaving Pony and Johnny behind.

**_VERY IMPROTANT NOTE:_**

**_Fouled you guys didn't I? About the Tim and Adam thing ne way, lol. I KNOW YOU GUYS ARE GOING TO HATE ME FOR DOING THIS! But it was in my plot all along and it won't be what I planned unless I put the events of the book in here. It'll end up all right you guys'll see. Trust me, will ya? Please, please, PLEASE, R&R for me! I LOVE YOU ALL!_**


	19. Maggie Gets Femine

Maggie joked around as she walked around with Adam and Amy. All three of them still had popcorn from the movie and were having fun chucking it at each other. Maggie laughed a little before quieting down again.

"Welp, I gotta go!" she told them as she waved. "I don't want to get in trouble." she said sarcastically with a roll of her eyes before taking off down the street towards "home". She sighed heavily as she rounded the corner and came up on it. She could hear the t.v blaring and voices from inside already. She stomped up the stairs and wrenched open the door before waving at Darry who was sitting in his chair reading the paper.

"What's up, Mags?" Darry asked as he set his paper in his lap.

"Not much. Decided to come back early so I wouldn't get in trouble." she smirked at him as he glared at her.

"I ain't that me." he told her as she picked his paper back up.

"Whatever you say, Darry." she said and laughed a little.

"What's up, Superman?" Soda's voiced boomed as he and Steve walked in the door, both smiling like bandits. Maggie waved to them both as she readjusted herself so she was only taking up one side of the couch instead of all of it. Steve sat down next to her while Soda sat down on the floor.

"How were your dates?" Maggie asked as she stared at both of them. She really didn't care for Evie much. She was too much of a bitch. And Sandy was too good to be true. Maggie wished with all her heart that Soda would realize that too.

"Good." they both said together. Maggie nodded and looked over at Steve.

"Evie's a slut!" she mouthed to him. His smiled was wiped off of his face instantly and replaced by a glare. Maggie smirked evilly and kicked him with his foot. He glared at her even harder. She smirked some more before giving him the finger. She was trying to make him made so he would jump up and start something with her. She knew it wasn't very often when Steve was in a good mood and she was trying to get him down again, just to see what he would do. She kicked him again and in seconds he was on top of her holding her arms down to the couch.

"What was that?" he asked her playfully as she started tickling her with one hand as she held her hands down with the other. She laughed a little before trying to get free, but he was just too strong. She squirmed underneath him as she tickled her even more.

"Stop!" she pleaded with him as she squirmed even more.

"Say uncle." he told her as she tickled her even more and smirked.

"No!" she groaned. "Stop!" she told him again but he just kept tickling her.

"I'll hit you where the sun don't shine!" she threatened, hoping it would work.

He smirked at her even more and she looked down to see his knee covering that oh -so-painful place up. She growled in anger and squirmed some more underneath her.

"Fine!" she groaned after a few more minutes.

"Say it." he told her as she continued to tickle her.

"Uncle." she said softly.

"What was that?" he asked.

"Uncle." she yelled in his ear.

"Ow." he said simply before collapsing on top of her and breathing hard.

"You way a tone." Maggie laughed as she situated herself so she was being squished.

"I know. But you make a comfy couch." he chuckled. Maggie grunted and laid still as he continued to lay on top of her.

"That looks really wrong!" Dallas' voice floated in from the doorway. Maggie growled so only her and Steve could here. He turned his face towards her and looked at her, there faces a mere inch apart. Maggie saw, in that moment, something she had never seen in Steve Randle's eyes ever before. Caring. She continued to look into his deep black eyes, astonished that he actually was showing caring in his eyes. He snapped his head back towards Dally and stared at him for a second before looking back down at Maggie. The caring replaced by coldness. Maggie's heart dropped into her stomach when she saw it was gone. Before she knew it Steve was laying behind her instead of on top of her. (A/N- kind of like spooning but without the S word, lol).

"Maggie can I talk to you for a second?" Dallas asked as he pointed down the hall, one hand on his ribs.

"No!" Maggie and Steve and Darry said at the same time. Dally stared at them all angrily, trying to figure out what was going on.

"Why not?" he asked sharply as he walked further into to living room so he was standing in front of Maggie and Steve.

"Cause she's busy right now!" Steve snapped back as his chin dug into her shoulder blade. Dally's jaw clenched in anger but he with held it and walked back towards the door.

"Guess I'll talk to you later then." Dally gritted out before walking out the door. Maggie sighed heavily, her consance taking over. Maybe Dallas need her help to wrap some broken ribs or something and she had turned him away. Or maybe there was something else wrong and he needed help. Maggie shrugged it off and closed her eyes. She listened to the sound of Steve's breathing on her neck and the sound of Soda and Darry talking in hushed voices. Their voice finally started to get far away and before she knew it she was sleeping.

She was awoken a while later by the sound of loud voice and yelling. She rubbed her eyes tiredly and found that Steve was no longer behind her and that Darry and Soda were now on their.

"You shut up!" she heard Darry yell as he pointed to Soda. "I'm sick and tired of hearing you stick up for him."

"DON'T YOU YELL AT HIM!" Pony snapped from behind Darry. Before anyone could say another word Darry whirled around and smacked him across the face. It made a loud popping sound and then a crash when Pony hit the living room end table. Maggie gasped and clasped her hand over her mouth.

"Pony, I didn't mean to!" Darry shouted after Pony as Pony got up quickly and sped out the door. Maggie got up quickly and pulled on her boots, ready to go after him. She made her way towards the door and was about to go out when Darry stopped her.

"Where do you think your going?" Darry asked softly. He had that look that said he was already starting to feel terrible about what he had done and wanted to take it back so bad. She remembered how her sister had always given her those looks for a while. But her sister never stopped doing it either.

"To find your brother!" she snapped, her voice cold. She tried to shove past him but he was too big for her.

"Darry just let me go!" she shouted harshly. "You know he's gonna find some kind of trouble to get into and one of us is going to have to be there when he does." Darry looked at her, defeated, before nodding his head. She said a quick thanks before running out the door, her shoe laces swinging all over the place. She knew where Pony was headed and she hoped she wasn't too late. She ran as fast as she could and only slowed when she reached the park and heard voices. She sped up when she recognized Pony's voice. She breathed hard and skidded to a halt when she reached him.

"You alright, Pony?" she asked as she joined Johnny and Pony on the jungle gym.

"Yeah." Pony said in a shaky voice before taking a puff on a weed. Maggie nodded and patted Johnny on the back as her way of saying hi.

"Blue Mustang." Maggie said warningly as she pointed to the blue Mustang headed there way.

"Stay cool." Pony said to them. Maggie and Johnny both nodded and watched as the Mustang came closer. About 5 or 6 greasers all piled out of the car and made their way over towards them.

"Well,well, well," one of them with a bottle in their hand said, "ain't these the greasers that tried to pick up our woman?" he slurred. An idea instantly popped into Maggie's head and she dropped down off the gungle gym and walked slyly over to the Soc.

"Well," Maggie said sweetly as she puckered her lips a bit. She almost wanted to make herself gag by the way she was acting and she knew Pony and Johnny were thinking the same thing.

"I'm my greaser buddies tried to pick up your woman, I guess that means you guys should pick me up, huh? Nobody can know about it." she told them, disgusted with herself. But she knew this was probably the only way to get them off of Ponny and Johnny's back. All of the Socs looked at each other before the one in front of her smirked.

"Get in." he told her and motioned to the car. She smirked at them and turned back to Pony and Johnny.

"Get Steve and Darry and Dally and Soda and tell them to come look for me and fast. I really don't want to be in the same car as these freaks let alone have their hands all over me!" she whispered in Pony's ear. He nodded to her, his face looked worried. She turned back around and walked to the Socs car, crawling in back. She situated herself before about 3 greasers hopped in back with her 1 of them putting his hands on her thigh. She wanted so much to turn to him and punch him in the nose but she refrained and told herself to wait till the gang got there. She knew taking on 5 of them would be way too much to handle but if worse came to worse she would do it anyway. She sighed heavily as they started up the car and started driving back out of the park. Her hands were shaking and she couldn't get a grip and think about what she was going to do for a plan.

She could already see Pony racing down the street towards Darry's house and she prayed they would make it in time to help her beat the ass off of these socs. The guy's hand on her thigh started to slowly move up and down each time getting closer and closer to upper side. She let out a shaky breath and knew she would have to start throwing punches before Darry and the rest of the guys got there. She turned to the guy and smiled coldly at him, finding that he was actually quite ugly. She kept the smile on for a few seconds before slowly putting her fist up and punching him right in the nose at a perfect angle. His nose instantly started spluttering blood all over the place. The guy cried out in pain and held on to his nose. The guy driving twisted the wheel around and screeched to a halt. Maggie looked over at him and smirked, shrugging her shoulders.

"Everybody out!" the driver yelled as he turned off the car and opened the door. Maggie was thrown out of the car by a guy sitting in the back seat. She tripped and fell, landing on the pavement and scraping her knees. She jumped back up quickly before anyone got the chance to kick her while she was down. Once she was up she backed away from the Socs and held her fists up while looking for an exit. She found none and turned her attention back to the fight about to start. She breathed in deeply as the first one stepped up to her. He was the one that she had talked to earlier with the bottle. She watched him closely and manged to get a swing in, he whirled out of the way and recoiled by landing a hard punch to her cheek. She gasped out and pain and doubled over, holding her face. She looked down at her hand to find blood there and looked up at the guy quickly. He had rings on.

"Shit." she softly cursed to herself and straightened up ready to try again. She faked with her right hand and finally delivered a fierce punch to his lower lip, splitting it. She smiled slowly to herself, glad she finally hit him. But he caught her off guard and delivered a mean punch to her own bottom lip and she doubled over again. Those rings hurt something awful! She moaned a little as her lip gushed more and more blood and heard the guy laugh as she did. She backed away slowly before running at him and jumping on him to bring him. Once he was on the ground she started punching him wildly all over his face. He squirmed but Maggie was able to keep him down and keep punching him for a while until another soc pulled her off and held her back. All the while the one with the rings was getting up and getting him self resituated. He walked towards her angrily and punched her right in the stomach. She doubled over, thinking she was going to puke but never did. She was about to straighten up when he punched her again. She coughed some more and gulped for air.

"Hey!" one of the socs yelled. Maggie looked up to see Darry and Soda and Steve and Two Bit and Dally running towards her on foot.

"Took you long enough!" she managed to yell out before wincing at the pain in her lips and her sides. Before long all 7 of them were standing in front of her looking mean and tougher than ever. Maggie slowly walked over to Steve who grabbed her so she wouldn't fall, all the while Maggie was clutching her stomach from a huge pain in it.

"You ok?" Steve whispered to her as he held her up. She shook her head no shortly before looking up at the Socs.

"She's gonna pay for this!" the one with the rings said angrily as he pointed to Maggie.

"I think she already paid enough!" Steve spat out even more coldly.

"Let's go." one of the socs finally said and within minutes they were gone. Maggie walked a few steps before dropping to her knees in the grass and throwing up. She felt horrible and was having really bad pains in her stomach. She coughed a little and Steve came over to her and held up her hair. When she was done she got back up slowly and turned around. Steve stared at her and gave her a weird look when he saw her.

"What?" Maggie asked softly.

**_YEAH! DALLY AND JOHNNY DON'T GET KILLED! AND I'M STILL STUMPING YOU GUYS ON WHO'S GOING TO GET WITH MAGGIE! WHO'S GOOD? HUH? HUH? LOL. I'm just joking. LOVE YOU ALL! Please R&R!_**


	20. You Shouldn't Have Done That

**_MERRY CHRISTMAS PEOPLE! I know this is short but its really just like a little Christmas present for you guys, lol. So read it and review if you want but MERRY CHRISTMAS!_**

"We gotta get you back to the house." Steve said as he continued to stare at her mouth.

"Come one." Maggie nodded wearily and let Steve put an arm around her shoulders to help keep her upright. They walked slowly the rest of the gang in front of them.

"What happened?" Steve asked her as they kept walking.

"I," she started and took a deep painful breath. "Pony and Johnny were at the park. Darry had hit Pony and Pony ran off, so I went after him. We sat on the jungle gym for a while smoking until those Socs showed up." she took another deep painful breath. "They were saying something about Pony and Johnny trying to pick up their girls, so I stepped in and told them that if my friend got to pick up their girls they should pick up me. They all agreed and I told Pony and Johnny to go get you guys. Then I ended up back there." she finally finished. Steve's arm tightened around her.

"You shouldn't have done it, Mags!" he said, suddenly angry. "Worse could a happened to you tonight." Maggie nodded.

"I know. But I knew Pony and Johnny couldn't take being beat up by them so I did if for em'." she told him, her voice hard. She was hoping that would be the end of that because her stomach was hurting something awful but Steve went on.

"Their older than you Maggie they can take care of themselves!" he snapped back.

"You don't know Pony like I do." she told him. "He cried after just having one hit from Darry. I knew he wouldn't be able to take getting beat up by them Socs. And Johnny has to put up with it every night anyway, so I figured I'd save him the damage."

Steve sighed heavily and finally dropped it but Maggie could tell he wasn't happy about what she had done. She coughed a little more and was over come by a bad feeling of noxious.

"Stop." she managed to gasp out. Steve let her go and she stumbled back over to the grass where she threw up again. She coughed a little more, not liking the copper taste that was filling her mouth.

"Darry." she could hear Steve called. She waited patiently, expecting Darry to just help her up and tell her that he would get her back home and she could sleep it off and be ok in the morning.

She heard Darry's heavy boots as he walked across the gravel until finally he was right next to her.

"Stand up." he told. Maggie obliged and shakily got to her feet. Darry sighed heavily as he looked at her.

"They really got you good kid." he told her as he picked her up wedding style. She tried to protest but Darry cut her off.

"You throwing up blood." he told her as he carried her along. "That ain't good, so I'm gonna get you home and you can sleep it off. But if you don't get better than I'm gonna have to take you to the hospital." Maggie grunted loudly and smirked even though it hurt.

"Like that'll happen." she said softly as she closed her eyes and leaned her head against Darry's chest.

"Don't you eat kid?" she could hear Darry asking her but his voice was getting far way and her eye lids were getting heavier. Finally after a few minutes she gave into sleep and blackness took over.


	21. To the DX

**_Author's Note:_**

**_Wow! Not as many reveiws last chapter but I'm still happy with the ones I am getting! It feels good since I've never gotten this many reviews in all the stories I've ever written, lol! You guys rule, like seriously! You have no idea how good it makes me feel that you guys read this story. I LOVE YOU ALL REVIEWERS AND READERS! _**

Maggie coughed a little when she finally came to. Her stomach and head were aching something awful but she felt better none the less. She slowly lifted her head up off the pillow and noticed she was in Soda and Pony's room and Soda and Pony were lying on either side of her. She smirked but winced when it sent a dull pain through her lip. She let herself fall back onto the pillow and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. It was still dark outside which meant she had to have only been asleep for a couple of hours. She slowly got herself to her feet holding on to the foot of the bed to keep the dizziness away. She breathed in deep for reassurance before letting go of the bed and taking a step towards the door. She smiled when nothing happened and she didn't get dizzy. No matter how much her lip her she just couldn't keep from smiling. She took slow tiny steps the rest of the way to the door until she got to the living room. She looked around and found Steve on the couch and Dallas in the chair. She walked slowly over to the couch and dropped herself down near Steve's feet, hoping she wouldn't wake him up.

She sat there for a couple of minutes before closing her eyes. She let sleep take her after a few more boring hours of sitting there like that.

"Maggie, hey Maggie!" she woke up to the sound of whispering. She let her eyes slowly flutter open and found herself face to face with Ponyboy.

"What's up Pony?" she asked, her voice a little hoarse.

"Just wanted to know how you got in here." he told her as he rested a hand on her knee.

"I walked." she said bluntly and coughed a little. Pony nodded.

"You want something for breakfast? I'm the first one up." Maggie nodded but then shook her head.

"Technically, I'm the first one up."

"And technically you got a few busted up ribs, too." a new voice said from the hallway. Maggie looked over to see a sleepy Soda, shirtless and stretching in the hallway. She nodded finally.

"Just some eggs would be fine, Pony. And a glass of water." Pony nodded and went to the kitchen. Maggie closed her eyes again, still a little tired.

"How long was I out?" she asked Soda, letting her eyes flutter back open.

"Couple days." was his short, tired reply.

Maggie stared at him in disbelief. "Really?" Soda nodded and smirked a little.

"Your gonna have to come to work with me and Steve today. Darry has to work and Dally and Two Bit aren't going to be here so someone's going to have to look after you." Maggie snarled.

"I don't need looking after. Besides," she started as she leaned up a little, "I'd rather stay home and sleep a bit."

"Well, you can sleep in Steve's car or somthin'. Darry's not going to let you stay here by yourself." Maggie sighed and nodded again. It was at least worth the try.

"Here you go." Pony said as he handed her a small plate of eggs.

"Thanks, Pony." Maggie said softly as she sat up a little bit more and began eating her eggs little by little.

An hour later Maggie was walking to the car next to Steve and Soda, ready to go to work with them. Her whole body felt shaky and her stomach still hurt something awful, but she didn't complain. She knew it wasn't really that bad; she had just taken a beating. She sighed heavily before climbing into the middle in between Steve and Soda. She watched as the house and Darry quickly disappeared and other housed came into view. Memories flashed through her head when they passed by the Shepard house and she had to fight not to shutter. Then she saw Johnny's run down, nasty house. She felt a flood of pity come over her. She could hear the yelling from in the car and Steve even had the radio on. She wondered if Johnny was home or if he was in the lot sleeping like he did sometimes. She didn't know why he didn't just go to the Curtis' and sleep there. He knew he was always welcome and it was a lot warmer there.

"Maggie...Maggie." Maggie shook herself back to reality and looked over at Steve to find that they were already at the DX.

"Sorry." she said softly as she scooted out of the car. She walked slowly behind Steve and Soda and waited for Soda to unlock the place before going in.

"You can find some place to sleep I'm sure." Soda told her as he unlocked the register and got ready for opening.

"You can sleep in a car that comes in if you want." Steve told her as he started to the garage.

"That sounds good." Maggie said as she followed him in. There was already a car waiting to be finished and she decided to go ahead and crawl in the back seat. She opened the door to find the interior in the car at its peak and was happy it was disgusting like some cars. She crawled in and layed herself down, her legs stretched out and her hands at her sides.

"Comfy in there?" Steve chuckled as he got the tools he needed and started to get to work.

"Mmmm hmm." Maggie replied and closed her eyes.

About 20 minutes later Maggie sighed and sat up slowly. No matter how hard she tried she just couldn't make herself sleep even though she was about to fall over from tiredness.

"Steve," she said loudly as she leaned back in the seat. "Who taught you how to fix cars?"

Steve gave a small grunt before appearing beside the car. He slide in beside her and sighed. "Believe it or not my dad taught me. Before he turned into an old drunk ass." Maggie smiled a little.

"How old were you?"

"I was about 8. I taught myself half I know but the other half I learned from him."

"I can remember, when I was about 6, my dad taught me how to do a cart wheel. It was before him and mom started all the fighting." Steve nodded and looked down at the seat, not wanting to meet Maggie's eyes.

"I can remember about 4 years later on the same day, I was cowering in a corner in my room after I had just heard a vase smash on my bedroom door."

"Nobody's families perfect, Mags." Steve told her as he turned more towards her.

"Yeah, I guess not. But don't you ever wonder what it would be like to actually have 2 parents that aren't drunks or attics or who don't fight over money? Who just fight about little things like what color their going to paint the living room." Maggie smiled a little at the thought.

"I bet Pony and Soda and Darry knew what it was like." Maggie said after a few seconds. "Wish I had got to meet their parents."

"Their parents were great. They still had their fights but they were great. Especially Mrs. Curtis, always trying to keep us boys on our toes and in school." Steve grinned at the memories.

"Its a shame, you know? People like that have to die. Especially when they had you guys to look after. You guys to take care of." Maggie could feel her eyes burning at the thought of it. She quickly whipped at her eyes and laughed a little. She didn't even know what had brought that question up in the first place. It just kinda popped into her head and she asked it.

"You know we're having a rumble?" Steve asked, suddenly all excited.

"Yeah?" Maggie asked as she turned her body towards him, sitting in Indian style.

"Yeah. We're having whenever you get better. Socs versus Greasers. We're gonna have the Shepard gang, the Brumely boys. The whole nine yards." Maggie nodded. She wasn't so sure if it was a good idea or a bad idea. She had complete confidence in the Greasers, but she didn't think it was right to have a fight over her. But, she kept her mouth shut. She knew all the guys would be excited about it, not to mention how much they just wanted to fight.

"Steve?" Maggie asked after a few minutes of silence.

"How do you know when you like some one and when your just attracted to em?" Maggie blushed after asking. She was just trying to talk about something and the whole Tim thing had been bugging her for a while. Plus the fact that she was starting to feel something for someone else too.

Steve looked into her eyes with his deep chocolate brown ones. Maggie held his gaze, transfixed on him for the time being. Steve ripped his eyes away from her and grunted.

"Like I would know?" he asked softly.

"Well, I figured you and Evie..." Maggie trailed off and looked down at her feet.

"Look," Steve said coldly as he turned back to Maggie, "Just cause I'm dating Evie doesn't mean I like her like that. There ain't no wedding bells in out feature. So, no, I wouldn't know how to tell the difference."

"Steve," they both heard Soda yell, "Evie's here." Maggie smiled coldly at Steve before looking aways and out the windows, anywhere but back at Steve. She felt Steve climb out of the car and looked up to see him walking to Evie. She watched as he pulled her to her and gave her a deep passionate kiss. She felt a shock of jealousy run up and down her spine and rest in the pit of her stomach. She was suddenly getting that feeling of wanting to be where Evie was, wanting to be right there in front of Steve giving him that deep passionate kiss that Curly had given her. Steve looked over at her, his eyes cold and his lips still locked with Evie's. Maggie looked away quickly, not wanting Steve to see the hurt in her eyes. She climbed out the other side of the car and left through the garage door.

When she finally got outside she leaned on the closed garage door and closed her eyes. She didn't know what was going on with her but for some reason she was feeling really emotional and she didn't like it. She pushed herself off the door and started walking in no particular direction for a while. Only stopping when the cold was too much to bear and she had to head back inside.

"Hey, Soda." she said softly as she walked over to the counter where Soda was sitting on a stool, reading a magazine.

"Hey, Mags." Soda answered in a bored tone of voice.

"I thought Sandy usually came with Evie." Maggie said as she leaned against the counter. Soda looked up at her sharply, hurt in his eyes.

"She's in Florida with her grandma." he managed to chock out. Maggie nodded, she wanted more then anything to ask why but she didn't want to upset Soda more then he was already.

"Is it safe to go in?" she asked as she pointed to the garage. Soda just nodded and went back to his magazine.

"Ok." Maggie muttered before heading into the garage. She found none other than Tim Shepard standing next to his black T-Bird talking to Steve. Evie was over in the corner, eying Tim as he stood next to Steve. Maggie snarled at her and made her way over to Tim.

"What the hell happened to you?" Tim asked, his voice rough, as he got a look at Maggie.

"Socs." Maggie said softly as she stood next to him.

"How many?" Tim asked as he pushed her bangs aside to get a look at her black eye. A chill ran up and down Maggie's spine but she tried not to let it show.

"Bout 6. One of them had some damn big rings." Maggie said and sucked on her split lip a bit. She looked up at Tim to see him nod at her and the memory of Tim standing shirtless in front of her flashed through her head and she blushed. Tim chuckled coldly, making Maggie blush some more.

"What wrong with you car, Tim?" Steve asked coldly from over by Evie.

"Its got a nasty oil leak." Tim told him as she turned to him a little more. Steve nodded and walked over to Tim's car.

"I'll have it done by tomorrow. You can pick it up then." Tim nodded.

"I"ll see you later Maggie." he said before leaving. Maggie let out a breathe and fought back a smile.

**_IMPORTANT NOTE:_**

**_I've estimated and I'm pretty sure I'm going to end up with about roughly 30 or so chapters. MAYBE! I still have to fit the romance in there and I have a big scene coming up soon involving the rumble. I still have lot of plans for this story so keep reading! PLEASE!_**


	22. Time to Party

**_NOTES TO REVIEWERS:_**

**_EnigmaticNightAngel-_ **Yes, lol, Maggie will be in the rumble. At least right now I'm planning on her being in it. Otherwise my plot would be totally messed up lol.

_**XAmberX-**_ Its a deal, lol. I'm so bored right now with no school I have nothing TO do but right! But yeah I will keep writing. I can't believe I have so many reviews on this story though! It makes me want to keep going. AndI will keep going, I promise! Now, about that sequal, lol. I dunno about that. The way I see sequals on this site don't go too well. But I'll see about it. lol.

**_WriterAzrael_**- Thanks a lot! And here' the next chapter! And I know what you mean about hte 30 chapters thing, It'll be the longest story I've written yet.

**_QTpie4_**- I know! I hadn't actually planned on making it this way but since pretty much all my reviewers wants romance I decided to throw it in there and this is what I came up with. Thanks for your review lol!

_**Megan-** _Thanks a lot for your review it means a lot to me! Here's the next chapter and I really hope you like it!

**_oOoDancingQueenoOo-_** Steve's wicked? Not exactly what I was going for but that works too lol! Thanks for your reveiw lol, hope you like this chapter.

**_sokkazukofan-_** I know, but on who? lol. THAT IS THE QUESTION! Thanks for the review lol!

* * *

Maggie walked over to Tim's car, which Steve was currently fixing, and climbed in the back seat. The familiar smell of cigarette, leather, and cologne made her feel all light headed and bubbly inside.

"Tim's not the type of person you need to be involved with, Maggie." she could hear Steve saying from under the car. "And you know Dallas wouldn't like it." he added.

"Why would you care anyway?" Maggie snapped back bitterly. "You stick to your girls and I'll stick to my guys." she got slowly out of the car and walked around to Stand next to the car so she could talk to Steve better.

"I know Dallas wouldn't like it Steve but Dally isn't going to be there for the rest of my life. I know he's not. I need to start making my own decisions! I can't help what I feel and I'm certainly not going to stop it."

"It doesn't matter what you feel Maggie!" Steve snapped back as he rolled himself out from under the car to stand in front of her. "He's gonna screw you over as soon as he gets what he wants from you."

"And you would know wouldn't you, Steve?" Maggie asked suddenly, her voice harsh and cold. She stood there for a few seconds, watching the hurt on Steve's face grow and suddenly turn into anger. She walked towards the side door before she could say anymore, not wanting to anger him further.

"Maggie!" Steve yelled after he but she kept on walking. She walked for hours, not even stopping when her stomach was starting to give her the worst pain imaginable. What was she supposed to do? Go back to the garage and let Steve chew her out some more? Like he had any room to talk anyway. Dating Evie just because he wanted a casual "fuck" or something, and he was lecturing her on not dating Tim Shepard. She finally slowed her pace as the park came into view, she only had about a 10 minute walk till she got back to the Curtis. But, of course, by that time it was starting to deliver a light drizzle and was starting to darken even more and spit out heavier faster rain. Maggie just simply covered up her face with her hood and kept walking. She knew Darry would be pissed and would give her a life long lecture, but she really didn't care. Sometimes she just needed to get away every now and then. To have some time alone.

She was almost amazed by how fast the whole year had went by. Dally finding her and her meeting the rest of the gang. It had seemed like just yesterday when she was crying her eyes out just after her parents had died. It seemed like just yesterday when she was getting beat by her sister's Soc boyfriend and walking down the street crying. She still didn't know where she would have ended up if it was for Dallas and the rest of the gang. She could have been in the grave on this day, but she wasn't. And it was all because of gang.

"Maggie!" a familiar voice yelled from behind her, followed by splashes of water. Maggie turned around slowly and tried to squint through all the rain. She could just barely make out Tim's figure. The rain was starting to beat down on the pavement so hard it was making little smacking sounds and Maggie was surprised she had even heard his yell to begin with.

She slowly walked towards Tim, her heart making a loud thudding sound in her chest, almost making the rain inaudible.

"What are you doing here?" she yelled to Tim as they both met in the middle.

"Saw you walking in the rain." he said coldly, light glinting off of his unshaven chin. Maggie nodded slowly. They stood there for a while in silence. Maggie letting her eyes travel slowly down Tim's body for the second time. He was in a white beater, which was now soaking wet, and a pair of jeans and boots. His boots weren't laced and it looked like he had just thrown them on and ran out of the house. She still couldn't get over how well Tim's abs were chiseled and how perfect he looked in just the right amount of moon light. He was almost like some kind of god that no girl could ever resist. Some god that every girl got pulled to, and then ended up with a broken heart.

She finally snapped herself back to reality and noticed that Tim was staring at her. She blushed slightly and looked down, feeling foolish for just standing there and staring at him.

"I guess I'll see you later." Maggie said softly and turned around to leave. Tim yet again caught her by her wrist and pulled her to him, hugging her to him by the waist. Her knees got weak and her head started to spine. Out of all people, why had Tim Shepard chosen her to get close to? Out of all those greasy, tough sluts he chose her. And it amazed and frightened her.

She let out a slow, shaky breath before she could find her voice. "Why me?"

Tim paused for a moment before chuckling coldly and running his right hand down her smooth pale cheek, leaving his other one wrapped around her waist. Maggie was about to ask him again but was caught off guard by Tim's mouth crashing against hers in pure beautiful bliss. Maggie replied after a few seconds, opening her mouth to let his tounge slip inside her mouth and play with her own tounge. He was so much more skilled than his brother and Maggie felt like she could barely keep up. She found herself wondering after a while if he was feeling that same heavy thumping in his chest as she was, or if she was just another innocent girl he was going to take the innocence out of. None the less though, she continued the small battle with their tounges, savoring every moment that she was in his arms. She shivered as Tim's hand snaked up her sweat shirt and rested on the bare skin on her back. His hand was cold and wet and Maggie was enjoying every moment of it.

When they finally stopped for a breather Maggie was speechless and Tim still hadn't removed his hand off of the small of her back. She looked up into his deep cold chocolate brown eyes. They still showed no emotion. No pity, no love, no nothing. Just cold, black, deep nothingness.

Maggie looked down at the ground as Tim ran his hand slowly up and down her back, making every inch of her skin crawl with delight. She shivered a little bit before looking up at Tim again, not able to keep herself away. He smirked down at her, cocky and arrogant. She couldn't help but smile back. He leaned down towards her again and caught her in another breath taking kiss. This one only lasting a few seconds before he broke away.

"I'll see ya around, Maggie." he said before walking off in the direction of his house. She watched as he figure slowly disappeared in the dark rain. She nodded her head slowly to herself. She knew she was probably only a little girl to him. A little girl that he could play around with and break her heart. But it still felt good.

**_The Next Night_**

"Hey, Maggie!" Dally said as he walked into the Curtis house. Maggie looked up from the t.v and smiled a little at Dallas. All their previous fights had disappeared and the only thing in Maggie's mind was the previous night with Tim.

"Hey." she said back, letting her eyes drift back to the t.v.

"Tim's having a party to celebrate the rumble coming up and I figured you might wanna come. Since the rumble was started by you."

"I don't think Darry would let me." Maggie said, almost excited if it wasn't for the big factor called Darry.

"I already talked to him." Dallas said, waving his hand carelessly. "Go get dressed, we're leaving by 10:00." Maggie nodded eagerly and walked as fast as she could to Soda and Pony's room without hurting her stomach. She walked to the closet and yanked open the doors, instantly searching for something to wear. She looked and looked and looked, finding nothing but the ordinary baggy tee shirts she wore. She searched deeper into her side of the closet and gasped when she found a shirt that had been her sisters. It was a small white tank top that Dolly used to wear under their father's leather jacket. Maggie had thought her sister was some kind of goddess and had wished to have the kind of body her sister had when she was little. She pulled the shirt off its hanger and through it on the bed, not even worrying that she didn't have a leather jacket to wear over it. She went to the dresser and threw out every pair of jeans until she got to the bottom of the drawer where he special jeans laid. They were the jeans she had only worn once in her life. They were tight and hugged her hip just right, making her look like she had an even more stunning figure then she really did have. They were dark but had faded thighs, knees, and shines. They were perfect for the occasion.

She threw them on the bed next to the tank top and opened another drawer, pulling out a different white bra and a small black thong. She shut the bedroom door before pulling off her clothes and pulling on her underwear and pants. She slipped off her shirt and then her bra, making a small pile on the floor.

"Maggie.." Dally's voice flowed through the door followed by the opening of the door.

"Dallas!" Maggie shrieked in panic and covered herself up. Maggie shut the door quickly, followed by his cold chuckling outside the door.

"We don't have all day." his voice said once more.

"Alright." Maggie said softly before slipping her bra on quickly. She pulled her shirt on next and straightened it out before walking towards the door and opening it to reveal Dally. She blushed deeply and looked down at the ground, hoping he hadn't seen anything. She followed him into the living to find Darry in his chair.

"No drinking!" Darry said immediately when he saw her. "I'm only letting you go cause I know that you deserve it. But you know what the doctor said, with your kidney's your body can't handle to disgust so much beer." Maggie nodded.

"Don't worry, Darry, I won't." she reassured him with a small smile before giving him a small hug, wincing when she hurt her stomach again.

"And no dancing either." he added as Dally and Maggie made there way to the door. "You might hurt your stomach."

"I'll be fine Darry." she reassured again and waved before walking out the door and getting into Dally's **stolen **car. She watched out the window as they made there way to the Shepard house. Her hands were sweaty and shaky and her arms had goosebumps.

"What's wrong with you?" Dally asked as he came to a stop outside the Shepard house. Maggie shrugged simply before getting out of the car. She waited for Dally before she opened the door and stepped in. The usual smoke smell and pounding music meeting her.

"I'm gonna go find some ladies." Dally said before disappearing. Maggie nodded slowly.

"Great." she mumbled as she looked around the party, hoping to see Soda or Steve or even Two Bit, but there was no such luck. She moved her eyes around the crowd, the house was full of greaser sluts and gang members from Tulsa and Brumely. Some of them good looking and some just down right scary. She moved herself slowly into the kitchen where it was less crowded and made herself a glass of water. She moved back over to the doorway and leaned up against it, still searching the crowd. She could see Dally flirting with some red head who obviously was Sylvia. Her hear was long curly and greasy, her red lipstick running off her lips a little and her eyes caked with makeup. Maggie snarled a bit. Dally had the trashiest taste in girls.

She moved her eyes more through the crowd until her eyes fell on Curly, also flirting with some greaser slut. Maggie was suddenly glad that he hadn't scene her yet and quickly looked away so you could prevent him from doing so.

Finally her eyes rested on Tim, sitting on a couch smirking at some guys who were sitting next to him. He looked as hot as ever in a plain black beater and a pair of jeans. She let her eyes wonder up and down his body before returning to his face. He was truly a piece of art. She watched as he took a drink of a bottle of vodka in his hand and smirked some more.

_What am I doing here_, she asked herself as she sighed and moved back into the kitchen. She hardly knew anyone here and she really didn't want to know any of them either. She set her glass of water on the counter and started making her way through the crowd to the door. She was stopped when someone put a hand on her shoulder. She turned around to see Dally, the red head attached to his side.

"I'll be back pretty soon, Mags. Don't do anything I wouldn't do." Dally chuckled harshly, obviously drunk off his ass. Maggie nodded and watched as he let the girl lead him upstairs. She snarled again before turning around only to find another guy blocking her way. He was tall, about the size of Dally but a little bit more muscular. He had dark black hair that was spiked up at the top of his head and deep piercing green eyes. Maggie sighed, only she would get stopped by some greaser from Brumly. She could tell he was Brumely from his clothes and the way he stood, slouched but confident.

"Wanna dance?" he whispered in her ear. Maggie was about to tell him sorry that she couldn't but he grabbed her land and started leading her further into the crowd, more away from the door and closer to the back of the house. Maggie tried to protest but there wasn't enough room for her to do anything, plus the music was too loud for him to hear anything that she would have said.

They finally stopped about 15 feet away from where Tim was sitting on the couch with his buddies but Maggie highly doubted he could see her, or that he was really paying attention. The guy turned around so that he was facing her and grabbed hold of both of her hands. He moved in closer to her as he raised her hands up towards the ceiling with his. She winced when her stomach sent a few shocking pains to the rest of her body.

"I can't." she managed to chock.

"Shh." he shushed her and got even closer. Maggie hissed and shoved him away.

"I can't." she told him more firmly as she held on to her stomach. Anger was rising in her and she really didn't want to deal with this guy right now.

"Listen," Maggie started angrily, "I don't give a shit how tough you are or where you come from, I said I don't want to dance, asshole! So leave it that way!" she said, still quiet enough not to cause a scene. He made a clucking sound with his tounge and moved closer to her again, running his hand down her cheek.

"Such a fiery temper." he whispered in her ear again. Maggie flinched back and glared at him.

"Problem?" a deep cold voice asked from beside her before an arm was swung around her shoulder. She caught the glimpse of a vodka bottle and realized that it was Tim.

"No, no problem!" the guy snapped back. "I was just trying to dance with this pretty girl right here when you stepped in."

"Well, I'm sure this pretty girl right here," Tim started to answer back told and leaned down to look her in the eyes, they were still deep and cold but Maggie had a feeling of reassurance when she looked into them. "has my name written all over her."

The guy in front of them snorted and laughed coldly. "Then I guess you cheat on your girls a lot. Either that, or your girl right there's a whore." he spate angrily. Maggie's face took on a look of rage and anger and she sprang forward, putting her fist up at the same time.

"You mother-" she started to say before her fist met his nose. He took a couple of steps backwards before looking up again and smirking at her.

"You hit like a whore, too." he said, laughing again as he whipped the blood away from his nose. Maggie's hand was grabbed by someone in the crowd and pulled out of the way just in time for Tim to leap forward and deliver a huge punch to the guy's stomach. He doubled over coughing and heaving for air. Maggie turned around quickly to see who had grabbed her hand and found Steve, Evie was still back in the crowd, scowling at her. Steve was watching every move of the fight, only glancing at Maggie once before turning his attention back to the fight. Everyone knew that Tim was going to win but they still loved the thrill of a good fight. This was now the second fight Maggie had been into in one week and her stomach was now aching worse than it had the day she had been punched there. She watched as Tim punched the guy one last time in the mouth before dropping his passed out body on the floor. Maggie sighed heavily, glad that it was finally over.

She watched as Tim walked slowly towards her, blood trickling down his chin. She was feeling so many emotion at the time she didn't know which one was stronger the feeling of fright or the feeling of intense want for guy walking towards her. Just as Tim had reached her her grabbed her hand and started leading her upstairs. She followed him great fully, wanting to get away from all the stares. When they were finally up stairs Tim stopped and took a deep heavy breath. Maggie sighed and pulled him into the bathroom where she sat him down on the toilet and set to work on cleaning his cut lip and bleeding knuckles.

"Do I really punch like a whore?" Maggie asked suddenly as she cleaned his lip. She was really just trying to get Tim to talk and keep him up and going. He grunted and grinned evilly.

"I wouldn't know. You've never punched me." Maggie smiled.

"Be careful what you wish for. It just might happen some day."


	23. Another Important Note

_**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**_

**I couldn't do it! I couldn't add romance in the next chapter that much that much! Especially with Steve, it just didn't seem right. I mean all that time making Maggie and Steve friends it just didn't feel right to me as a writer. I snuck a little in there yeah but I just couldn't do it! **

**OH, I'm seriously considering that sequal stuff, lol. I've got a few ideas up my sleve about it and I'm kind of excited. I just hope you guys will read it! LOL. I have the next chapter up and ready to, review me real fast or send me a message or whatever and tell me if you guys want the next chapter now or if you want it Saturday or Sunday! LET ME KNOW PEEPS, I LOVE YOU ALL! MUAHAHAHAHA!**


	24. Never Again

Maggie threw the wet paper towel in the garbage can when she was done cleaning Tim's lip off. She stood in front of Tim not really sure what to do now. He was just kind of sitting there looking up at her. She sighed heavily and leaned up against the wall. He was a character, that's for sure.

"Where's Dallas?" he asked gruffly as he stood up. Maggie pressed herself up against the wall to put some distance in between them, it was very small bathroom.

"Up here some where with some greaser slut." she informed him as she crossed her arms over her chest. Tim chuckled coldly as he stared down the hall towards the rooms before shutting the door. Maggie gasped involentarily and looked up at Tim as he came slowly towards her. Maggie pressed herself further against the wall, her heart beating madly against her chest. She looked up into Tim's cold eyes as he stopped inches away from her and put his hands up on either side of her head. Maggie drew in a sharp breath, not sure what to expect next. She could feel Tim's hot breathe on her cheeks and started wondering what exactly she was doing.

"Look, Tim-" she started to whisper but was interrupted by his lips softly pressing against hers. She was stunned for a minute and didn't know what to do for a couple of seconds. Finally she pressed up against him and started to return his kiss, opening her mouth ha bit and letting him stick is tounge inside. She shivered some as he grabbed her waist roughly and pushed her up against the wall, there tounge still locked in a secret battle. She slowly moved her hands to his back and ran her fingernails against his bare skin. He deepened the kiss and pushed her more against the wall, their bodies touching roughly. She could feel his lower packages as he pressed up against her and it gave her a weird thrilling feeling.

"Tim, you in there?" Dally's voice floated through the door. Tim collapsed against Maggie and sighed heavily as he punched thew all next to Maggie's head lightly.

"I'm busy!" he yelled back as he kept his hold on Maggie.

"I gotta talk to you about the rumble before I go down and take Maggie home." Dally said just as the door know started to move.

"Shit!" Maggie said aloud and jumped for the door, just in time she had her hand on the doorknob blocking him from getting in.

"Maggie?" she could hear Dally whispering to himself on the other side of the door. She looked at Tim pleadingly. All the things that Dally had done after he had caught her with Curly were going through her head and she really didn't want to get caught right now.

"Move." Tim whispered to her and locked the door hurriedly. He sat down on the toilet.

"Get the alcohol and a cotton ball out, pretend like your cleaning my eye." Tim whispered to her. Maggie nodded, a little shocked at how Tim had come up with that so quickly. Maggie got the alcohol out and a cotton ball just like she had been told. She dabbed the cotton ball on the alcohol and then looked at Tim for further instructions.

"Unlock the door." he whispered to her. Maggie did as she was told and unlocked the door before hurriedly going back over to Tim and acting like she was working on his eye. Dally rushed through the door as soon as he could and gave Tim and Maggie a skeptical look.

"What are you doing in here with Tim?" Dally asked sharply as he glared at Maggie.

"Cleaning his eye." Maggie answered calmly. Dally grunted in disbelief.

"Than what were you cursing for?" he asked sharply.

"I spilled alcohol on the floor. I had to clean it before you came in." Maggie answered hurriedly with a nervous smile.

"Whatever!" Dallas said sharply.

"You done getting your eye cleaned yet, then?" Dally asked Tim. Tim nodded and stood. He gave a glance Maggie's way, trying to tell her something but she couldn't quite tell what. She sighed as she watched Tim walk out the room and was left with only Dally.

"Meet me down stairs. We'll be leaving in a little bit."

"What? You get fucked and now we have to leave? What happened to partying?" Maggie bit out bitterly as she went down the stairs and disappeared in the crowd. Being interrupted with Tim had put her in a bitter mood and she had no desire to talk to Dally at the moment. She moved through the crowd slowly, not really wanting to talk to anyone. Finally she got fed up with just walking around and decided to go outside and wait by the car. Her head was spinning and pictures of Tim kept floating her mind. She couldn't stop herself from wondering what would have happened if Dally had interrupted them. She leaned against the car as she fantasized about all the things that could have happened between the two while they were locked in that small bathroom together.

"Maggie." a deep voice said as she got pulled out of her thoughts. She looked up to see Dally walking towards her with Tim close behind. She started to turn a deep shade of red and hoped that Tim hadn't told Dally anything or Dally hadn't gotten anything out of Tim.

"The rumbles going to have to be tomorrow. Think you can make it?" Dally asked as he stopped in front of her, a hint of annoyance in his voice. Maggie nodded.

"Should be able to. Unless Darry decides I can't." Maggie told as she looked from Tim to Dally.

"Ok." he turned to Tim and stared at him for a minute before turning back to Maggie. "Think you could ride home with Tim so I can ride over to Brumely?" Dally asked as he crossed is arms over his chest calmly. Maggie looked at Tim and quickly looked away again, her face turning red again.

She nodded slowly. She didn't see anything wrong with it but the thought of being in a car with him made all the fantasies come back to her mind.

"I can do that." she told Dally. Dally turned to Tim again, looking for agreement. Tim nodded slowly like Maggie had done.

"Ok. See you later, Mags." Dally said as he made his way to his car. Maggie nodded. "Tim," Dally said as he got in. "Don't do anything stupid while your with her!" Dally warned. Tim smirked evilly at Dallas as he watched him get in his car and speed and just like the snap of a finger the smirk was gone. Without any warning Tim was in front of her and had her locked in a deep and passionate kiss. It was at least 30 seconds before they finally broke apart and Maggie rested her head on Tim's chest. All the drama that night had made her tired.

"I better get you home." Tim whispered as he grabbed her hand and lead her to his car. She jumped into the passenger side and looked at the road as he drove, really not sure what to do or to say. When they finally arrived back at the Curtis' Maggie was shaking and had no idea what to do. She watched as Tim leaned over and opened her door for her.

"See ya around." he said, just like before. Maggie nodded slowly, a little bit hurt. She started to get out of the car. "Hey, Mags." Tim said before she was all the way out. "About tonight..." he trailed off. Maggie's heart fell, he didn't even have to finish his sentence she already knew what he meant.

"I get it." she said, trying not to let the hurt show. "You were drunk and way out of line it should have never happened." she chocked out before slamming the door and running as fast as she could inside. She stormed in and slumped down on the couch, either the only one home was Darry or everyone else was in bed.

"Where's Dallas?" he asked when he noticed she had come in.

"He had to go to Brumely to talk to the gangs." she informed him as she pretended to be examining her shirt. "Tim's gang can come but the rumble has to be tomorrow night. I'm fighting in it no matter what you say." Maggie told him before looking up at him sharply. He nodded slowly.

"I figured you would say that. And frankly, I'm in no mood to fight with you right now." he told her as he got up and stretched. Maggi sighed with relief and nodded to Darry.

"Oh, yeah. The doctor called tomorrow. You have your yearly test scheduled tomorrow." Maggie looked up, a little frightened. Had it actually been a year?

As if reading her mind Darry answered her question. "No, it hasn't been a year but your doc wants to keep an eye on you to make sure every thing's ok and to make sure your taking your medicine."

"Ok." Maggie said softly. "Who's going with me?" Darry looked down on her with pity and threw himself on the couch next to her.

"Well, Soda, Steve and I have to work. Johnny and Pony are too young. Which leaves you with Dally and Two Bit. You can chose whoever you want to go with you, Mags." Maggie nodded.

"Ok." she said softly as her brain started to analyze what was happening. Dally would probably still be in Brumely tomorrow and Two Bit would probably be hung over. That left her with pretty much no one. Her eyes widened when she realized that she could take Tim with her, or at least have Tim drop her off at the hospital and pick her up.

"I'm goin' to bed." Darry informed as he got up and headed down the hall. "Night." he called.

"Night." Maggie called back.

**_The Next Morning_**

Maggie pulled her hair up in a pony tail. She had put on the most comfortable clothes she had and was finally ready to go to the hospital. She was going to have to walk over to the Shepard's to talk to Tim about getting a ride to and back from the hospital. She waved to Johnny and Pony who were waiting for Two Bit to come and take them to school before heading out the door and walking down the sidewalk in the direction of the Shepards. She was wearing an old DX shirt of Steve's with a white shirt underneath it and a pair of baggy jeans. She had to wear clothes she knew would be easy to take off and to back on without causing herself pain.

Tonight was the night of the rumble, but the only thing that Maggie was focused on was her tests. She couldn't believe she actually had tests on the day of rumbles. That was like a double dose of anxiety and stress for the day. And she really didn't need it!

She looked up when she reached the Shepard's house and walked up to the door hesitantly. She knocked on the door a couple of times before stepping back and waiting. The door finally swung open and reveled a tall, scruff looking man, that resembled an older version of Tim. He had his head down and was hanging on the door. It was clearly visible that he had a hang over and was in no mood to talk to a 14 year old girl.

"Is Tim home?" she asked quietly, so not to disturb his head. Just when she was about to ask again she heard someone coming down the stairs and Tim's cold hard voice talking to the man in front of her.

"Get the fuck out the way!" he yelled to the man. Maggie looked down the street a ways, the only way she could give them privacy. She heard the man mumble something angrily but he moved anyway.

"What's up?" she heard Tim asked and turned her attention back to him.

"Umm..." Maggie started but trailed off. "I was wondering if you could give me a ride to the hospital so I can get some tests done. Dally's still in Brumely and Two Bit's hung over. Everybody else has to work." she looked at Tim finally to see a very annoyed expression on his face.

"You don't have to stay." Maggie blurted out. "You can just drop me and pick me up." he looked at her for a minute, the annoyed expression slowly leaving his face.

"Alright." he grumbled as he walked inside the house and grabbed his keys and joined her outside.

Her hands started to shake with every block that they got closer to the hospital. She sighed heavily as she looked out the window. She could already see the hospital approaching and couldn't seem to come herself down.

"You shake any more and I'm gonna have to hold you down." Tim grumbled as glanced at her hands. She cleared. If only he knew, she thought. She clasped her hands together at attempt to make them stop shaking, but it didn't do any good. When they finally got to the hospital Tim parked the car and turned it off, waiting for Maggie to get out. Maggie sat there for a minute, not moving at all. She was too scared to move, to scared to think about moving. All she could think about was those tests and how much they were going to hurt.

"Maggie!" Tim snapped suddenly. Maggie pulled at the door handle and jumped out of the car slamming it hurriedly.

"I thought you were dropping me off?" she asked as she raised an eyebrow.

"I don't know if that's such a good idea to leave you." Tim told her as he walked towards the entrance. Maggie followed him a look of confusion on her face. She was not ready for this. She was not ready for these tests.

She walked up to the desk and told the receptionist that she was there. She nodded and told her to take a seat. Within 15 minutes a nurse had come back to get her and Tim. She followed the nurse to the changing rooms and changed into her hospital gown like she had done before. She walked back out of the changing rooms to find Tim sitting on the floor like Steve had done at first test. He looked up at her when she stood in front of him, eying her night gown.

"I don't know if you want to sit next to the door while there doing my tests." she told him, remembering what Steve had said after they had gotten home. Tim shrugged.

"I'm sure I'll be fine." he told her, clearly not getting what Maggie meant. She side but made no move to convince him that he really didn't want to sit there. She leaned up against the wall and waited patiently for the nurse to come and get her. About a half and hour later she finally did.

Maggie looked down at Tim and she just knew that he could see right through her to all that fear that was down inside of her over something as small as these tests. But to her, they were the biggest things in the world. She followed the nurse slowly as they lead her to the big room that she had been in last time. She layed down on the table.

The doctor's did the same things to her they had done last time and Maggie had screamed through all the painful parts. About 2 hours later she was back in the changing room slowly and painfully changing back into her clothes. She walked back out of the changing room to find Tim in the same spot he had been. She nodded to him and whipped at her eyes, hoping he couldn't see that she had been crying.

"Thanks for bringing me Tim." she told him as she walked to his car.

"Its ok." he sad gruffly as he walked next to her. She could tell there was something different in him, now.

"Just..." he trailed off for a second, "don't ever ask me again." he finished finally. Maggie nodded, that had been the same thing that Steve had said after he had taken her.

**_AUTHOR'S NOTE:_**

**_Ok, lol. The next chapter will be the rumble! That's pretty much all I have to say, lol._**


	25. RUMBLE

Maggie sat on the ouch as she anxiously waited for the everyone to get home so they could start talking about what was going to happen for the rumble. She was more excited than anyone, after all this was technically her fight everyone else was just fighting it with her.

After a while Maggie got restless and stormed outside to sit on the porch. There she waited for a complete 2 hours before anyone finally came home, and that any one just happened to be Dallas. She looked up wearily when he got out of his car, waiting for him to tell her what was going on with the Brumely boys.

Dally walked up to her ans sat next to her on the porch. He didn't say anything for the first few minutes but finally he turned to Maggie.

"Their commin'." he said simply. Maggie nodded.

"Why aren't you at school?" he asked suddenly as he stared at her.

"Tests." Maggie said softly as she leaned her elbows on her knees.

"Oh." she heard Dally say from behind her. She nodded slowly. "You scared?" Dally asked suddenly. Maggie looked up at him in confusion.

"About the rumble or about the tests I just had?"

"The rumble idiot!" Dally said as he shoved her playfully.

"Just checking." she told him before turning serious again. "Yeah, a little bit. Its gonna be my first rumble ever. I'm excited in all, but I'm still scared. Dally nodded as he looked down the street.

"It'll be fine." he reassured her as he put a hand on her shoulder. "Let's get something to eat."

Maggie nodded slowly it would at least give her something to do. Dallas got up from his spot beside and pulled her up too. They spend the next 3 hours or so playing pool and talking to people in the Dingo, just blowing off steam before the big rumble.

Around 11:30 they were all back at the Curtis' anxious to get the rumble started.

"Hey, Soda," Pony said from the bathroom. Soda looked up from his cards at Pony.

"When'd you start shaving?" Pony asked. Maggie snorted as she snuck her 2 aces in her shoe to her hand. That had to be on of the weirdest questions ever to come out of Ponyboy Curtis' mouth!

"When I was 15." Soda answered simply

"You expecting to grow a beard before the rumble little buddy?" Darry asked as he laughed, Maggie laughed a little too as Pony continued to look at his chin and cheeks.

She got back to her cards almost immediately. She knew Soda and Steve were both hiding aces in their shoes but she had 2 aces in her hand now that she snuck them there. She was gonna win no matter what.

"Read em and wheat boys!" she howled as she layed her cards down. It was a full house with 3 aces and 2 kings. Soda and Steve stared at her for a minute, not believing what they were seeing.

"They ain't fair!" they both said at almost the same time. Maggie laughed wildly as she grabbed the contents in the middle of the table. It was just odds and ends like hair gel, a comb, some weeds, a couple dollars. It wasn't much but at least she had still won.

"Alright," Darry said finally as she looked at the clock. "Johnny and Pony I want you two to stick together. Its easier for the both of you that way. Maggie I want you to either stick by Steve or Dally and if you can, stay in between the two! I want Steve and Dally to look after Maggie. She's already gotten beat up once this week, we don't need it to happen again. Other than that, we're home free!" Darry whooped and was soon joined by the rest of the gang. They all jumped up from their seats and made for the door, Maggie in last as she watched Steve and Soda and Darry do back flips.

"I am a greaser! I am a JD and a hood. I blacken the name of our fair city. I beat up people. I rob gas stations. I am a menace to society. Man, do I have fun!" Soda started the chant. Maggie smiled and leaned up against the fence as she watched them all get riled up. Deep down inside though, she was a mess. She was scared of course, this was going to be her very first rumble. She was more excited than she was scared and she knew that she would have all her friends there to back her up in case something crazy happened or she got hurt. She would always have her friends to back her up.

"Greaser...greaser...greaser...O victim of environment, underprivileged, rotten, no count hood." Steve chanted with him and howled. Maggie laughed as he did another back flip.

"Juvenile delinquent, you're no good." Darry added with a unique smile.

"Get-" Two Bit started to say in a girlish voice but Maggie cut him off.

"Get the hence, white trash. I am a Soc. I am the privileged and the well-dressed. I throw beer blasts, drive fancy cars, break windows at fancy parties." Maggie flicked her wrist and acted like she was some sort of rich snob. All the guys laughed and pointed at her.

"And what do you do for fun?" Pony asked as he shoved Maggie playfully.

"I jump greasers!" Maggie howled and threw her hands up. Ponyboy pushed her again and laughed. They all started making their way slowly towards the lot where the rumble was going to be. Howling and make all sorts of noise.

"Now if the fuzz shows-" Darry started to say.

"There ain't gonna be no fuzz!" Two Bit cut him off.

"Yeah!" Steve added. "Ain't no one in this neighborhood that would call the fuzz on us." Darry nodded but he kept his point down clear.

"But, if they show I want you three," he said as he pointed to Maggie, Pony, and Johnny, "to run. The rest of us can take care of ourselves." Maggie nodded but she could tell Pony wasn't pleased with Darry's idea of running. Pony was always like that though. Wanting to be tougher than he was.

Maggie got more and more shaky and excited as they got closer to the lot. Her heart was beating almost as hard as it had been when she was with Tim, but not quite that hard. She moved closer to Dally for comfort, hoping maybe if she was as close to him as she could be right now than she wouldn't feel so bad later. Dally looked at her and nodded his head for reassurance. Maggie took in a sharp breathe when she finally stepped into the lot. She took in the sight of everyone. All the Brumely boys were there, looking as tough as ever, and the Shepard's gang was there, too. Needless to say, she was the only girl at the rumble and was getting lots of looks from the guys, which only made her more uncomfortable. She followed the rest of the gang as they took their spots spread out amongst the other gangs. Maggie did just as Darry had told her and stood in between Dally and Steve. She watched just like everybody else as they watched for the Socs to show.

Before Maggie knew it Tim was standing in front of her, a cold look on his face. She looked anywhere but in his eyes, she was still too hurt for that.

"Watch your back." he said gruffly before disappearing again. Maggie smiled cruelly to herself. He had come up to her to give her a simple _watch your back. _

"Heads up." Dally warned as he pointed to a long line of Soc cars coming towards the lot. Maggie let out a long string of curse words when she recognized Jim's car among the ones coming towards the lot. Dally looked over to her but she just shook her head at him, hoping that he wouldn't know she was there. She pulled a dark blue ragged hat out of her back pocket and slipped it on. She knew it would probably come off during the fight but at least it would keep Jim from noticing her for the time being.

"Pair up with someone that's about your size, Mags. I know that's going to be hard but you gotta get it as close as you can. The numbers are gonna be about even." Darry told her as he stopped in front of her.

"Your starting it?" Steve asked. Darry nodded. Seeing as how he was the biggest he always got to start the rumbles. Maggie looked at all the Socs and caught site of a scrawny 15 year old that was only a little bigger than her. He seemed to see her too and stood across from her, ready to fight. Maggie watched as Darry and another guy circled each other with their fists up. Her pounded against her chest and her breathing sped up as she waited. The waiting was probably going to be worse than the actually fighting was going to end up being.

Finally, after what seemed like a million years the other guy took as wing at Darry which Darry ducked. Maggie immediately ran towards the guy she had matched up with and started to watch his every move. She could hear guys groaning and yelling all over the place. She watched as the guy in front of her made a quick step forward and through his weight into a punch. She turned at just the right moment and watched as he slide past her and fell in the mud that was quickly forming from the ran. He growled angrily at her and got back up hurriedly. They continued to circle each other and Maggie watched him as a hawk. She saw her first chance to strike when he turned his head to look at Steve, Maggie jumped forward and through a punch at him. It wasn't as nearly as hard as she could punch but she was trying to save her energy. A wave of relief flew through her when the guy fell back onto his butt grabbing his nose. She ran up to him and kicked him a good one in the side, leaving him to curl up in a ball on the ground. She looked up and around her waiting to see who else she could take on.

She noticed Pony was trying to beat down a Soc about twice his size and decided to go over and help him.

"Look out, Pon." she told him as she kicked her leg out aiming for his groin. This guy was quicker than she expected and grabbed her leg at the same time he swung his fist out and punched her right in the eye. Maggie stumbled back and tripped as she held her lip. Her whole face was screaming with pain and all she could do was sit there. Suddenly she was being grabbed and pulled up by her jacket and pushed away again.

"Stay on your feet. Your gonna get squashed." Dally told her angrily before he tackled a Soc to the ground. Maggie nodded and ran and jumped onto the back of the Soc Pony was trying to take out. She put her arm right around his neck and kept yanking backwards trying to give Pony some room to punch him or kick him or something. What she hadn't realized was that the Soc was actually trying to tip backwards by the time she realized it she was on the ground and the Soc was on top of her.

"Pony, get him off!" she growled as she struggled to breath against his weight. She squealed and wiggled until she got her knees up and pushed the Soc off of her. He landed with a thunk on the ground across from her and she straddled him, punching him again and again on the face. She seemed to loose track of time as she just sat there and pounded him with her fist. Finally, Pony pulled her off of him.

"Thanks." she said, out of breath and tired. He nodded to her before running at a different Soc. Maggie stood there and looked around. She didn't see any Soc that wasn't already running away or already in a fight and then she saw it. Jim, strait ahead of her smirking evilly. She eyed him cautiously and watched as he reached inside his coat pocket and she saw a glimpse of metal.

"**HEATER**!" Maggie yelled as she jumped towards Jim who was pulling a gun out of his pocket.

"Maggie, no!" she heard Dallas yelling and suddenly he was in front of her holding her back. "Don't-" he started to say before he was interrupted by 2 loud pops. Dally's face went blank and he instantly stopped moving. Maggie's whole body seemed to go limp and her hands started to sweat her knees were wobbly and everything seemed to be in slow motion.

"Dallas?" her voice was shaky, hoarse, and questioning. He looked down at her, his eyes glinting from a near by lamp post. "Dally?" she asked again, tears welling her eyes this time. She found herself wishing desperately that this was just a dream and that she would wake up any minute now. She watched in slow motion as he dropped to his knees in front of her and she fell with him. For the first time in a long time she let the tears spill out.

"Help!" she screamed as she moved closer to Dallas and held his head in her lap.

"Don't die on me Dallas! Please don't die." her voice trailed off with every passing moment and Dally continued to stare into her eyes.

"Maggie..." he said before trailing off. "I want you to know that I..I..."

"Shh, Dally!" Maggie cut him off. "Don't talk you'll make it worse." she moved quickly and put both her hands on where his chest was seeping blood. She knew she was no doctor but the holes were both really close to his chest.

"Don't give up on life, Maggie." he continued to talk. "Don't be like me." Dallas coughed a little and blood seeped down his chin. At that point Maggie had gotten reduced to full out sobs.

"Dallas, I love you! Without you I'd be dead. Your my one and only brother Dally." Maggie sobbed as she put her cheek against his. She could already feel the warmth going out of him and it scared her to the bone. She could feel as Dallas nodded his head briefly.

"Tell Johnny..." Dally trailed off again and cough a little. "Tell him he's a good kid. He ain't no hood." Maggie nodded and ran her hand down his unshaven cheek. She watched as he collapsed into her arms, his whole body limp. She looked at his chest to see that it was just barely rising and falling. She screamed loudly, just screamed.

"Pony," she could hear Darry say, "run to the house and call 911."

Maggie looked over to see Jim on the ground, tackled by Tim and a couple of his guys. Maggie got to her feet, stumbling a bit, and ran over to Jim. She picked up the gun on the ground and pointed it at Jim. Her hand was shaky and the gun was heavy. Everything around her seemed to go silent and it was just her, Jim, and the gun.

You moaned a little and more tears moved down her face.

"I should kill you right now!" she screamed loudly. "I should kill you because that's what you deserve. You belong in hell you son of a bitch!" she ran over to him and straddled him, dropping the gun. She brought her fist down as hard as she could on his face and felt pain move up her wrist but that didn't stop.

"**GOD DAMN YOU!**" she yelled louder, continually beating him until she couldn't lift her arms anymore. She collapsed onto the ground next to him and cried as if there was no tomorrow. And there wasn't, there was no tomorrow for Dallas and tomorrow for her without him. She curled herself into a ball, and rocked herself. Pain seeping through every inch of her body.

"**GOD NO!" **she screamed again. She felt a strong arm grab her hand and she opened her eyes to so Tim looking down on her. She picked herself up and clutched onto Tim like a 3 year old would clutch on to her father or mother. That's when the darkness slowly slipped over her. And she let it take. She wanted it to take her forever!

**_AUTHOR'S NOTE:_**

**_Please don't hurt me! I know this chapter like made me cry just writing it! I'm sorry for doing this but it had to happen for my plot to work. It just had to, had to, had to! Please don't kill me and please don't flame me either! I hope you liked this chapter even though it was sad though. R&R please!_**


	26. Too Much

Maggie's eyes fluttered open by quickly closed again. Her head was pounding and every inch of her body seemed to ache with every breathe she took. She was wondering where she was at and when she had gotten there when everything came flooding back to her.

Dallas, gun, 2 shots, crying, and Jim. She curled herself into a ball and rested her head on her knees. She didn't want to open her eyes. She didn't want to come back to reality. She could hear constant beeping a little ways from her and it gave her a little comfort.

"Hey," she heard a distant voice. "She's awake." Maggie shook her head to herself. She didn't want to be awake. She never wanted to be awake.

"Maggie." she could hear a voice say just before hand touched her hand. She slowly fluttered her eyes open and got adjusted to the light to see Steve standing in front of her. She looked up at him.

"Its ok." he started to comfort. Maggie drew her arm away quickly, rage building inside of her.

"No!" she screamed. "Its not ok! It'll never be ok!"

"I'm here, its going to be ok." he persisted. Maggie drew away from him again.

"I don't want you!" she yelled as she scooted to one side of the bed. "I WANT DALLAS!"

"I want Dallas." she said again, barely above a whisper as she broke down into sobs again. She didn't care if her body ached. She didn't care about anything anymore. She just wanted Dallas. Maggie picked up a near by plastic cup and hurled it at the wall, still sobbing.

"Well, if you let me touch you we can go see him!" Steve snapped angrily and banged his fist on the railing on the side of the bed. Maggie looked over at him quickly. Go see him? But Dallas was dead, how could she go see him?

"But," Maggie said, "he's dead."

"No he's not!" a new voice yelled. Maggie looked up too see Johnny rush into the room. "He's not dead, Maggie. It'll be ok." he said as he nodded his head, worry and fear in his eyes. Maggie swung her arms around Johnny's neck. At that moment she felt like the closest thing she could have to Dallas was Johnnycake.

"I wanna see him!" Maggie said urgently when she was done hugging Johnny. Johnny nodded and Steve leaned over to help her up.

"Grab her machine, Johnny." Steve ordered and pointed to the IV drip that was attached to Maggie's arm. Johnny nodded and wheeled the IV machine behind Maggie as she walked.

"Think you can make it?" Steve asked when they were about half way to Dally's room. Maggie nodded, not caring about all the aches and pains in her body. She just wanted to see Dallas!

Steve lead her to a silent, eerie corridor of the hospital. It seemed like everything in this corridor was dark and eerie and creepy. It was so silent that even Maggie didn't want to disturb it. Steve led her a few rooms down and stopped in front of a door way. Maggie took a deep breathe and walked in slowly, Johnny still trailing behind her. She gasped when she saw Dallas. His whole room was dark but she could make out his emotionless pain figure on a hospital bed. She walked closer and leaned against his bed, suddenly light headed. She stared back down at Dallas. He had so many tubes coming out of his throat and nose it was hard to tell what was what. He was paler than ever and his hair was matted to his forehead by what looked like water. Maggie reached up and dried it off before looking at all the tubes. She looked at the machines recognizing the one that pumped air into and out of his lungs. She was light headed again. Dally was in a coma. Her Dally was in a coma. This couldn't be happening!

She listened to the beeping on the side of his bed, it was slow and steady just like it should be but it wasn't right. He wasn't really alive. The only thing keeping him alive was a bunch of machines, but she wasn't about to turn them off either. Johnny walked up beside her and held her hand, tears in his eyes.

"The docs said he could wake up from it. He could wake up now or maybe 10 years from now. They just don't know." Maggie squeezed Johnny's hand. She knew he was going through this too, it wasn't just her.

"Let's leave her alone, Johnny." Steve whispered from the door. She felt Johnny nod and then his hand was no longer locked in hers. She watched as they left and then slowly got in the bed with Dally, making sure not to cut of his tubes. She rested her head on his chest that was slowly moving up and down. She wondered if he could feel her, hear her, if he knew that she was there. She slowly looked up at his face and kissed him on the cheek.

"Dally..." she trailed off when tears stung her eyes. She whipped them away and continued talk to him. "I miss you. You're my brother Dally, seeing you like this i-it kills me, Dally." she said softly. "You, big tough Dally. You were untouchable, and because of me and who knew me, your laying here with a machine keeping you alive." she wanted so much for Dally to wake up and tell her that everything was ok that he was ok. But it didn't happen, so she went on talking.

"If it hadn't been for Jim we'd all be back at the Curtis partying and playing poker, celebrating our victory. You know Dally, deep down inside it made me happy all those times you got made at me for dating Curly. But if you only knew who I was dating now." Maggie smiled a little when she pictured what Dally would do if he found out about her and Tim. Her smile quickly faded when she remembered that Tim had said it was a mistake. She had no one left now. No one in the world, no one to take care of her like Dally or Tim could. This was it, she was on her own.

"There was so much you could have taught me, Dally. So much you could have done with me. We could have gone to New York, we could have done anything you wanted to do." thinking of everything they wouldn't do together was what really got Maggie chocked up. The thought of him never being there again chocked her up even more. She closed her eyes slowly, not wanting to feel the pain anymore, and fell asleep listening to the sound of the machines beeping, telling her that Dallas was still alive.

She woke up quickly at the feel of movement and snapped her eyes open, hope that Dally was awake flowed through her body until she realized that it was only a nurse checking all of Dally's machines.

"You should really be in you own bed, honey." she told Maggie as she checked them and wrote something down on a paper. Maggie shook her head.

"I'm not going anywhere." she stated stubbornly.

"Well, then, should I just send all the visitors for you down to this room?" the nurse asked, her voice kind and caring. Maggie nodded slowly.

"Thank you." she replied but didn't smile, she didn't think she could ever smile again.

A few minutes later someone knocked on the door. Maggie looked up wearily to find Tim standing in the doorway, looking out of place. Maggie motioned for him to come in and made sure her hospital gown was closed.

"You should really go back to your own room, the doctors need to tell you something important." Tim told her as he walked in, only glancing at Dally before looking away.

"What's so important that I should leave him for?" she asked sharply as she leaned up. He shrugged.

"They wouldn't tell me." she nodded again, satisfied with his answer. She was staying right there no matter what.

"How you feeling?" Tim asked suddenly.

"Fine. Tired." Tim only nodded.

"I just thought I'd stop by and see how you were doing. I guess I'll be on my way again."

"You do that." Maggie said coldly as she layed back down with Dally. Tim was about to leave when a doctor stepped in his way.

"There you are!" the doctor shouted. Maggie rolled her eyes and watched as the doctor, and Tim, and closer to the bed. "I've been looking for you everywhere, should of known you were in here with your friend." he went silent for a while before starting to talk again.

"We did some tests while you were unconscious and we were informed that you have urinary reflux. We did some more tests to check your kidneys and what we found isn't good. You right kidney is so scared and damaged that its not working properly. You left kidney is starting to get over worked with having to handle all the work."

"English please!" Maggie snapped.

"Your right kidney isn't working at all, which means its useless. You left one which is scared and damaged too is having to take on the work. We're predicting that in a few weeks maybe even days your going to suffer from kidney failure."

Maggie took a while to take it all in. The doctor had told her about this when she first found out about her disease. If her kidneys failed she was going to have to have a transplant!

"Are they going to fail for definite?" she asked quietly, her heart pounding.

"Yes. They are." the doctor said slowly, his voice was cold and Maggie had to wonder if he had any feelings at all.

"What happens until the transplant?"

"We'll put you on the waiting list for a kidney. We'll also give you treatments called hemodialysis. This treatment works by hooking you up to a machine that cleans and gets ride of your excess water mechanically. It takes about 2 to 4 hours hours. You can do anything while the treatment takes place. You can sit and talk, read, watch t.v. Once you get a kidney it will be transferred to your body immediately."

"So I will only need one?"

"Yes. As long as you have one good working kidney that isn't scared or damaged you should be fine."

Maggie nodded again. This was so much at once. Dally in a coma and her about to have kidney failure.

"There's something else." the doctor said more coldly. Maggie looked up wondering what it could be this time.

"Its seems you have no registered guardian or parent, which means you are a ward of the state as of now. You will be kept here to get your treatments and to be given proper care. But once and if you get better you will be transferred to a state home immediately." Maggie sat there shocked. She knew that Darry wasn't her guardian but they couldn't let her stay with him? Not at all? Before she knew it the doctor was gone and she was in a room with Tim alone again. She looked up at him, tears in her eyes again. He looked as shocked as she was but quickly hid it.

"I have to go." he said suddenly and rushed out the door. Maggie broke down in tears once again and feel against Dally. She clutched his emotionless body and wished with all her might that he would just wake up and hold her. He would comfort her and tell her he'd always bet there for her. But he didn't, he just lied there, emotionless and she was left alone. She cried there for hours, clutching on to Dally and just lieing there. Until finally she cried herself to sleep.

When Maggie woke up again it was dark outside. She instantly listened for the sound of Dally's beeping sound and found that it was still there. She relaxed but only for a few seconds before she rushed to her feet to the bathroom. She leaned over the toilet and dry heaved a bit. Her stomach felt awful and her legs felt weak. Everything seemed to be aching still and she just didn't feel right. She dry heaved until she finally threw up what little was in her stomach, but that still didn't make her feel better. She coughed and spit the yucky taste out of her mouth before dragging herself back up, flushing the toilet and taking some water from the sink into her mouth. She spit it out slowly and dragged herself to the bed next to Dally's. Her hands and feet and legs were shaky and she still felt sick to her stomach. After a few minutes she started to get awful cramps in her stomach and abs. She started to somehow make herself believe that she was just about to start her period.

She layed like that until it got light outside again, the cramps as bad as ever and the nausea still there and a headache was added to the list shortly after she had thrown up. She just lied there the whole time, shaky and moaning from her cramps. Finally the nurse came in around 6:30 and noticed her immediately. She got on a walkie talkie she had and radio the nearest doctor who came right away.

"Definaitly kidney failure." the doctor said. He looked to be about 25. "Go get the machine." her ordered the nurse. Maggie let out a little whimper, she wasn't planning on this to happen for another couple of weeks.

"Its gonna be ok." he comforted her as he brushed her sweaty hair out of her face. This guy had good bed side manner!

"Can you push my bed to his bed?" Maggie asked hopefully, she really wanted to be next to Dally while they did this so called procedure. He nodded.

"Anything to make you more comfortable." he told her as he walked to the other side of her bed. He moved to the other side of her bed and unplugged her IV machine before pushing her bed sideways against Dally's. Maggie reached out and grabbed Dally's hand to hold, hoping he could feel it. She watched as a nurse brought in a big machine.

"Now, we're going to have to stick two needles in your arms. Ok? So we can get the blood out and put it back in." Maggie nodded slowly closed her eyes. She could feel 2 picks in her arms and twitched a little. She listened as they hook up the tubes to the needles and turned on the machine. She opened her eyes again and looked over to Dally, noticing that the nurse and doctor had gone again.

"Look at this, Dally," she said with a small sad smile on her face, "we're both dieing. Isn't it ironic?" she sighed a little and closed her eyes, listening to the beeping sound again.

"Maggie?" she heard a small voice say. She looked up to see Johnny and the rest of the gang standing behind him.

"Hey, guys." Maggie said, her voice weak.

"Sorry we haven't been to visit, we thought you needed some time alone." Darry said as they all walked into the room. Maggie nodded.

"Thanks guys. The doctor tell you whats going on?" Maggie asked. Darry nodded.

"Yeah, he told us. We all just got tested to see if we're matches. They said if we are a match then we might be able to give you a kidney."

"None of you are going to give me a kidney." Maggie said coldly. "I can get my own kidney. I'm not going to take one of you guys' away so I can live."

"Its not up for discussion, Maggie." Darry said sternly as he sat next to her and looked a the machine next to her.

"What are you gentleman doing in here?" the nurse asked as she walked in to the room to check Maggie. "Its after visiting hours and this young lady needs her rest." Maggie was about to protest but Darry cut in.

"She's right, Mags. We'll just stop by tomorrow." Maggie nodded to all of them and gave them a quick good bye before closing her eyes. So much was happening she didn't even know what to do. This was not how she planned it.

If only Dally could wake up!


	27. Goodbye

Maggie sat up in her bed next to Dallas. The whole gang had gotten tested and none of them had been a match. On top of that she had gotten put on the bottom of the kidney list because of her social status and the fact that she was a ward of the state. They obviously thought she wasn't worth the time of a kidney transplant, but she was determined to stay alive. At least till Dallas woke up.

"Maggie, dear," the nurse said as she came in, "the doctor wants me to take you down to the shower to get cleaned up a bit." Maggie nodded and dragged herself out of bed and followed the nurse down the hall. The nurse handed her a pair of underwear and a new gown before she walked into the shower room.

_**Back at the Room**_

Steve walked swiftly in the room to find Maggie gone. He sighed and moved over to the side of Dally's bed. He really hated seeing Maggie like that. All sad and sick and yellow. She wasn't pale in the skin, her whole body had turned yellow! The doctor's had said it was from the kidney failure. Steve sat down in a near by chair and rested his head in his hands.

"You really gotta wake up, Dal." he said softly before looking up at Dally's motionless body. "Maggie and Johnny need you more then you'll ever know. Maggie's completely broken down. She needs a kidney transplant, Dal. Can you believe it? All that time we thought she was going to be ok and now she's lying in a hospital bed right next to your suffering and going through some kind of treatment everyday. And on top of that she's a ward of the state now! Darry can't adopt her cause she's a girl and they don't think that she can live with 3 other guys in that small of house. God, Dal. We all need you so much. Just wake up, wake up for Maggie." he finally finished and got up from his chair, his temper rising a little. He walked out the door, not even wanting to wait to see Maggie.

_**A Year Later**_

Maggie sat propped up in the same hospital bed as skinny as ever and as sick as ever, too. 2 doctors were by her side including 2 nurses and Dally who was still in the bed next to her motionless.

"The treatment is starting to wear off. It can't keep up with your body. Your body needs to grow and your not growing. Your suffering from malnutrition also. Your body just can't handle it anymore." one of the doctors told her. He was some old guy with geeky glasses and a bald spot on his head. The other guy was the 25 year old that had first found her when she was suffering from kidney failure. He was next to her, holding her hand.

"We're going to up your name on the list but there aren't any guarantee's you'll get a kidney in time." the old doctor said before walking out. The younger doctor turned to her.

"You know Maggie," he said as he sat down, "you grieving for your friend there, isn't helping your body recover." Maggie snarled at him.

"What am I supposed to do?" her voice barely reaching a whisper, "Stop grieving for the guy who took care of me in the time I needed it most? That'll never happen. He's gonna wake up, when I need him the most he's going to wake up." Maggie was trying to convince herself more then she was trying to convince the doctor.

"Well then he better wake up soon." and with that he was gone. Maggie coughed a little and pulled the cover up further on her body, lately she had been so cold. She had spend her 15th birthday in the hospital and without Dally.

Nothing had really changed except the fact that Pony was now a sophomore and that Darry had got a promotion and was working as manager at the roofing company. Besides that everything was normal, except for her. She had known she was gradually getting worse and so had the gang and so had the doctor's, but they all just let it go, including her. She just didn't have the strength to fight back anymore. After every passing day her hopes of Dally waking up slipped further and further into darkness. She just wanted him back and here with her. The doctors had proposed taking one of Dally's kidneys since he had turned out to be a match. But Maggie had refused and told them that she would rather die then take his kidney. And it was true.

Maggie coughed a little and scrunched her eyes closed as a huge cramp shook her whole body. She rolled herself up in a ball and clamped her hand down hard on Dally's. The cramp was at its worst when Maggie felt a squeeze on her hand. She rolled over to face Dally but found him with his eyes still closed, she must have been dreaming. She rolled back over again and squeezed his hand harder as another one came. She had gotten used to these cramps but they still hurt like a son of a bitch. She felt another squeeze on her hand and rolled back over. Dally was awake and staring into her eyes, the cold look still on his face. She tried to speak but was shook by another violent cramp which then caused her whole body to go into shakes. She cried out loudly in pain, this was her second seizure this week. She gripped the side of the bed and tried to reach the nurse button but she couldn't, her body was shaking too much. She felt Dally let go of her hand and wondered if he had fallen asleep, but the next thing she knew a nurse came rushing in.

"Oh, honey!" she cried as she rushed over to Maggie and tried to hold her down, she radioed for a couple more nurses and the young doctor, Dr. Patterson, to come in. They all rushed in but the next thing Maggie knew everything went black.

Maggie moaned loudly as she came back to reality. Her whole body was aching again and everything was out of focus when she opened her eyes. She waited for all of it to go back into focus and was amazed by what she saw. She looked strait into his eyes and figured she was dreaming. She closed her eyes and opened them again, he was still there.

She saw him smile that genuine smile, he was in a hospital gown. She reached her hand out to him and he started walking towards her, but before she knew it he was gone again and she was lying in her hospital bed surrounded by nurses and doctors.

"She's hallucinating." one of the doctors commented as he looked at her strangely.

She was tempted to scream at him but she couldn't get the words out.

"Maggie?" the young doctor said as he sat on the edge of her bed.

"We've got a kidney for you!" he said happily as he smiled a little. Maggie nodded wearily. She couldn't get excited, she felt to bad for that. "We're moving you into surgery right now. We'll see you when you get out." he told her and got off her bed. Before Maggie knew it she was being pushed out of the room and down the hall to a huge white room. She was being crowded but a whole lot of nurses and then the next thing she knew she was falling asleep.

_**About Three Hours Later**_

Maggie coughed a little as she came too, she could hear doctor's around her but no matter how hard she tried she couldn't seem to get her eyes open, her eye lids were just too heavy.

"Ly still." she heard a nurse tell her and she did just that. She realized soon after that, that the reason why she was supposed to sit still was the horrid pain that ran across her back where her new kidney was just put in. It felt like her whole back was on fire and she couldn't help but moan.

"It'll be alright." she heard a voice. She wasn't sure whose it was but then again she couldn't almost tell who it was. She tried to open her eyes but they were still to heavy.

"Its ok, Mags." she heard again and this time she knew exactly who it was. DALLAS!

"Dally!" she cried out and reached out her hand in no particular direction. Someone reached out and put her hand down next to her side.

"He's not here, Maggie." the nurse said again. Maggie's heart fell to her stomach. She wanted Dally so bad she was imagining him being there by her side. She slowly let herself drift to sleep again. She didn't want to be in reality and she was starting to wish that this kidney had gone to some other kid that needed it as bad as her. She didn't know if her life was worth living anymore. The only real pure thing she had was Dally. She knew Dally would always be there. He was tough and hard and cold but he would always be there for her. He would always find a way to be there for her. And this time was no exception except for he still wasn't awake. She wondered as she fell slowly in to sleep if he would ever wake up, if she would ever be able to see him.

Maggie walked long a white passage, she was looking for something but she didn't know what. She moved as quickly as possible sprinting towards the end of the hall where she could see a closed door with light coming out of the edges. She gasped for air as she ran faster and faster but the door only seemed to get further away. Finally she lunged at the door and opened it before it could jump away again. And there was Dallas, laying on the hospital bed, as white as ever and as cold as ever. She reached out slowly and was about to touch his cheek when he reached out and grabbed her hand roughly.

Maggie woke with a start and shot strait up but shot strait back down again when the searing unbearable pain shot through her from her head to her toes. She gasped for air as the pain slowly got better and was just a dull pain in her side compared to what it had been. She looked around and realized that it was dark outside and that she was back in her room next to Dallas. She wanted to break down and cried when she realized he was still asleep, still in that deep slumber.

_**Roughly a year later**_

Maggie ran down the flooded sidewalk and finally sat down under a tree. She was attempting to hide herself from all the rain that she was walking in, but it was no use. She pulled her knees to her chest and put her elbows on them and then her face in her elbows. She was trying to hide the fact that she had been crying. Dallas still wasn't awake and everything had gotten worse for her when she had gotten worse for her. She was in a girl's home now, on the Soc side of the town. It was full of greaser girls of course, some of them were worse than Maggie but not many. She was honestly getting tired of everyone asking her if she was that girl that Dallas Winston hung around with and if Dallas had died yet. It just made her break down even more. She had tried to run to the hospital to visit him before but she always got caught before she could leave. She was put on a tight leash but the state and she just wanted to be freed again. She was planning it. She was planning her big escape to New York and it was just 2 days away. She was actually deciding on whether or not to make it sooner or not, she just couldn't decided.

She looked up when she heard a lot of splashing. 5 socs ran by, splashing her already wet clothes as they went. Right after them 5 more greasers started to run past her but stopped when they saw her.

"They hurt you?" one asked as they pointed down the road. Maggie recognized him from Tim's outfit and quickly looked around the group to see if Tim was among them.

"No," Maggie said slowly as she thought, "but can you do me a favor?"

Maggie waltzed into the Curtis house, her bag on her shoulder and Tim Shepard right behind her. After she had met the guys from Tim's gang she had them take her to him and then she had Tim take her back to orphanage to get her clothes and then to the Curtis.

"Maggie?" Pony asked as he sat up from watching TV. Maggie nodded and smiled sadly.

"You look like shit." Steve commented as he entered the room and gave her a huge hug. Maggie nodded and sighed heavily, tears threatening to fall.

"I know." she said quietly.

"Listen you guys," she started as she looked around at the whole gang in the living room,

"I'm going to New York. My train leaves in 2 hours. I'm going to go to the hospital and visit Dally and then I'm going to the train station to get out of here."

Everyone sat around the living room in shock, no one saying a word. Maggie had expected this much from them and she felt horrible about what she was doing. They had done so much for her and now she was just going to up and leave them. She couldn't stand being there anymore. Being in the orphanage was killing her and not being able to see Dally was killing her even more. She just couldn't stand it anymore.

"You're sure Maggie?" Darry asked as he stood up and hugged her tightly.

"I'm sure." Maggie said, her eyes stinging even more. She felt Darry nod.

"We'll meet you at the train station in 2 hours then." Darry said as he nodded. Maggie nodded back and followed Tim back to his car.

"You so sure about this? New York's a dangerous place?" Tim asked as he drove to the hospital.

"I'm sure." she snapped. "I can take care of myself despite popular belief." Tim sighed coldly and drove even faster. Before long Maggie was walking down the hall way towards Dally's room and wondering what would happen if he woke up right now. Would she still go to New York? Would she go to New York anyway but take Dally with her? She took a deep shaky breathe as she walked in and looked at Dally's motionless body for what seemed like the millionth time. She walked over to his bed and sat down next to him. A nurse had just freshly shaven the best she could but his hair was wild and starting to curl.

"I'm sorry I haven't been here for a while Dally." she said softly as she moved his hair out of his eyes.

"The orphanage is hell, I can't do anything and it's on the Soc part of town. The food sucks the girls suck there. Today was the first time I had gotten to see the gang in a year. Everyone seemed ok though. We all miss you though." she paused for a while and took another shaky breath.

"I'm here because," she grabbed his hand before she told him; "I'm going to New York. My train leaves in like an hour. I just can't be here anymore. Knowing that your here in a coma and that I live in an orphanage now. I just can't take it. Me and You, Dally, we were always so free spirited. Now were locked up in our own forms of cages. Huh. How could this happen?" a single tear fell from her eye as she leaned down to kiss his check. She rubbed his forehead for a while before leaning back up.

"I'll see you when you wake up, Dallas." she said with her head held high and tears streaming down her cheeks. She walked out the door, knowing she wasn't going to be seeing Dallas for a long time. If not ever. It hurt her, it hurt her a lot, but it had to be done.

She hopped into Tim's car and he started driving the slow 45 minute drive to the train station, neither of them speaking a word.

_**45 Minutes Later**_

Maggie stepped out of the car slowly and grabbed her bag out of the back seat. As she stood up and swung her bag over her shoulder she saw all 6 of the gang walking towards her, poker faces on. She knew and the whole gang knew that they were hurting inside, but no one wanted to show it.

_She got out of town on the railway, new york bound_

_Took all except my name_

_Another alien on broadway_

_Well, some things in this world you just can't change_

_Some things you can't see until it gets too late_

Maggie walked up to the gang and they all followed her over to her train that was getting ready to leave. She turned around and looked at all of them. Her eyes starting to burn again.

"I love you guys." Maggie whispered as she jumped into Steve's arms and everyone else piled around. Maggie was squished between 6 big guys and that's exactly where she wanted to be at that moment.

_Baby, baby, baby when all your love is gone_

_Who will save me from all I'm up against out in this world_

_And maybe, maybe, maybe_

_You'll find something that's enough to keep you_

_But if the bright lights don't receive you_

_You should turn yourself around and come on home_

They only thing that was missing was Dally. But she didn't want to dwell on it. She just wanted to get on that train. They all separated and Darry looked down on her and pulled 2 pictures out of his pocket.

One was of her and Dallas and the other was one of her and the rest of the gang. She let a couple tears fall and hugged Darry tightly.

"I'm gonna miss you, Darry."

"I'm gonna miss you too, baby girl." he said, a hint of moisture in his usual cold green-blue eyes.

_I got a hole in me now_

_I got a scar I can talk about_

_She keeps a picture of me in her apartment in the city_

_But some things in this world_

_Man, they don't make sense_

_Some things you don't leave until they leave you_

_And then the things that you miss, you say_

Maggie walked up to Soda next and through her arms around him. All the memories of the times they used to talk together rushing through her mind.

"You take care of yourself Sodapop. Don't let no girls go to your head." Maggie told him as she squeezed him tightly. He squeezed her back and chuckled a little.

"You take care of yourself in big time New York. Don't let no gang replace you!" Soda told her as he kissed her on the forehead. Maggie smiled weakly.

"No gang could replace you guys." she said before she moved on to Pony.

_Baby, baby, baby when all your love is gone_

_Who will save me from all I'm up against out in this world_

_And maybe, maybe, maybe_

_You'll find something that's enough to keep you_

_But if the bright lights don't receive you_

_You should turn yourself around and come on home_

_Let that city take you in (come on home)_

_Let that city spit you out (come on home)_

_Let that city take you down, yeah_

_For god sakes turn around_

"Pony, do me a favor and quite smoking? Your gonna ruin your track." Maggie said before pulling him into a tight hug. Pony chuckled a little.

"Do me a favor and send me some smoke from New York." Pony laughed harder and Maggie did, too. "I'm gonna miss you, Maggie. I really really." Pony told her, tears welling in his eyes. Maggie nodded and looked away. She hates seeing Pony cry, it was so emotional. She sighed heavily and moved on to Johnny.

_Baby, baby, baby when all your love is gone_

_Who will save me from all I'm up against out in this world_

_Yeah well, maybe, maybe, maybe_

_You'll find something that's enough to keep you_

_But if the bright lights dont receive you_

_Well, turn yourself around and come on home_

Maggie smiled at Johnny and kissed him on the cheek. "Don't you let no Socs beat up on you Johnny Cade. You just remember that! You just think of me and whip their asses." Johnny nodded, tears in his eyes, too.

"I'll look after Dally for you. Write us, too, will ya? I'll read em' to Dally, too. Just...don't forget us, Mags." Johnny pleaded. Maggie wrapped her arms around his middle.

"I'll never forget you Johnny Cade. Or anyone else. You write me, too." she added before letting go and moving to Steve.

"Oh god, this is hard." Maggie said as she whipped more tears away. Steve looked down on her and smiled sadly.

"It's what has to happen, Mags." he said as he hugged her and kissed her cheek. "You ever need a good quick job just remember all that car stuff I taught you, ok? It comes in handy a lot." Maggie nodded and held on to Steve tighter, not really wanting to let go. He squeezed her back and finally let go.

"Write me, Steve. You better write me." Maggie threatened as she whipped her eyes again. Steve chuckled sadly and nodded.

Maggie started walking to the train but looked back, hoping to see Tim. But he was gone and so was his car. She would have at least gotten to say good bye to him, but she could live without it. She really could. She walked to the train and stopped at the bottom of the stairs and closed her eyes.

Thoughts of Dallas ran through her head. All the times they spent together. The times they played around at the Dingo. A single tear ran down her cheek as a picture of Dally in his hospital bed ran through her head, and then she opened her eyes. She hesitated a second longer before climbing on the bus, not looking back, thinking it would be too hard for her to go on if she did.

_Yeah, come on home_

_Baby, baby, baby, baby_

_Come on home_

_Yeah, come on home_

_Yeah, come on home_

_Yeah, come on home_

_Baby, baby, baby, baby_

_Come on home_


	28. Farewell and Info

**Oye! Hi, all:D I just though I would leave a friendly goodbye and tell you all something very important.**

**If you don't know, which I'm hoping all of you already do, I've come out with the sequel. I've written and posted 11 chapters so far and right now I'm standing with 95 reviews! YAY! Lol. So thank you to all who have reviewed for the story.**

**So, for those of you who don't know, here's the info:**

**Name: Over My Head**

**Status: In Progress**

**Summury: Maggie's finally ended up in New York. Brooklyn, New York, none the less. Will she have the heart to replace the Tulsa gang, or will she end up fending her herself in the cold, dark, and mean streets of Brooklyn?**


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